Purity and Corruption
by Kryo2000
Summary: Tenchi was once a promising GP Officer, but things changed for the worse after he met the dreaded space pirate Ryoko...
1. Prolog

Okay, I will say it right out, this is an alternate universe story, so if you want to read the usual OVA or TV continuation, where the gang sets out to face a new evil and Tenchi gets closer to one of the girls during their new adventures, you are in the wrong place.

However, if you are willing to put up with a slightly more original story, featuring Tenchi as a Galaxy Police officer amongst some other minor adjustments, this might be just what you were looking for.

Fear not, I'm not violating the characters, only placing them in a different setting. If you still get the impression that someone acts out of character this might be because life changes people and as I said the history of some characters differs from what you know about the various Tenchi continuities.

In order to properly understand this story you don't need any knowledge about the OVA, Universe or others. However, there will be more and more hints and references as the story progresses.

Now for those who are interested in the history of this story. I'm writing this fic together with my sister Tamrin. Since we are both german, I fully translated the parts that my sister wrote for the first couple of chapters. However, as the story progressed, she became more confident and I only had to do a little editing here and there for her scenes.

That's that. Now all you need to do is skip the disclaimer and take a look at the story.

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of their original creators and all those affiliated with them. I have neither created them, nor do I own them. Any new characters as well as the events within this story are created by me and my sister, so they are our property. This story is written for fun and as an homage to the world of Tenchi.

* * *

Prolog

It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining down brightly through the treetops of Jurai's huge forests. Like most of the year on the planet, it was quite warm, but not uncomfortably hot, and since it was a vacation day, Weather Control wouldn't allow even a single cloud in the sky, not to speak of any rain.

It would normally rain a lot on Jurai, as it was necessary in order to keep the ecological balance intact, but vacation days were very special to the Juraian people. On these days they wanted to enjoy themselves without having to worry about anything, especially the weather. Some would go shopping, or spend the day with their family, and some would simply relax. Almost nobody would stay at home or work unless they had no choice.

On such a special day even some members of the Royal Family of Jurai were allowed to put governmental issues aside for a time and move out into the woods to relax. The perfect day for an assassination.

* * *

Emperor Azusa and Empress Achika of Jurai sat in the middle of a clearing in the Royal Woods, an entire forest dedicated solely to the distraction of the Royal Family.

While Azusa felt rather uncomfortable kneeling on the small picnic blanket, Achika was enjoying herself immensely, and the baby in her arms seemed to like it's surroundings as well. The contented looks of his wife and son soothed the emperor a little and caused him to drop some of the tension he felt by doing something as disgraceful as having a picnic in the open.

In fact he didn't like the vacation days at all, and if it wasn't for the council he would have abolished them. It had taken Achika a long time to talk him into having this picnic with his family. Now he sat there, his face a frozen mask, and hadn't spoken a word since they arrived.

"Isn't it a wonderful day, dear?" said Achika, trying to start a conversation.

"Indeed it is," he answered, not dropping his mask.

The baby, feeling the tension between the two, began stirring uncomfortably in Achika's arms. It's smile slowly vanished and it started sobbing.

"See what you have done. You made little Yuro cry," the empress accused Azusa.

"But I... uhm... I didn't want to..." His expressionless mask had been replaced by the helpless look he always wore when it came to the baby.

Despite the crying child in her arms Achika couldn't suppress a chuckle from seeing the mighty emperor with his guard down like this.

"Ayeka dear, could you please come over here for a minute!" Achika called back over her shoulder.

"Of course mother, I'm on my way!" came the reply from the woods.

* * *

"Now do as we planned and everything will work out just fine," Yosho told the princess one last time. He was the eldest son of the family which was second to the throne of Jurai and although he was only twelve and about seven years older than Ayeka, he was already appointed as her future husband. "Once the little brat is out of the way, we are next in line to the throne again."

"I guess you are right. Nobody would suspect the caring sister to do anything to her little brother. It is indeed a perfect plan." She was having trouble suppressing a fit of high-pitched laughter that would probably have given them away.

Yosho just grinned at her evilly. "I think you should go. Your mommy called, maybe she needs your help with young Yuro."

"Yes, I think I will go give her a hand." She returned his smile and left.

* * *

"Ayeka, please don't walk off too far by yourself, it can be dangerous out there." Achika scolded the young princess for her late arrival.

"But we are on protected territory mother, nothing would ever happen here."

"Space pirates can show up anywhere nowadays and I don't want my favorite daughter to get hurt." Achika explained with patience.

"Yes mother, you are right. I won't do it again," Ayeka said, while she thought, 'You would do better to worry more about your precious Yuro.'

"May I ask why you summoned me here mother?" the princess inquired.

Achika took the now uncontrollably crying child carefully out of Azusa's hands and handed him to Ayeka. "Could you please take little Yuro for a walk. I think he will calm down when he's with you, and besides I need to talk with your father for a while. Just don't wander off too far."

With that she returned her attention to Azusa, who looked extremely uncomfortable.

Ayeka's heart jumped for joy. Never could she have imagined it to be this easy. She knew her mother had great trust in her, but she hadn't expected her to practically put Yuro's life in her hands. Though, she knew exactly what to do with it.

As Achika started talking to her husband, Ayeka walked off slowly, with the crying baby in her arms.

* * *

The water of the small river flowed peacefully in front of the little princess. Just like her mother had assumed, the child had stopped crying soon after they left and now it slept as peacefully as the river flowed. Even if Ayeka hated him with all her heart for the simple fact of his existence, young Yuro had always liked being with her.

She hadn't done a thing to cause such behavior, of course to her mother she had always been the perfect daughter, even though she hadn't even pretended to like her brother, let alone care for him. Nevertheless he still liked her. Ayeka wondered what kind of person he would have become. One thing was for sure, he would have been totally different from the current emperor.

If there was one person she hated more than the baby in her arms, it was the emperor. She even refused to call him father in her own thoughts. Azusa may have been one of the greatest leaders of Jurai, but he was awful as a father. He had never understood babies or children, and not even her caring mother Achika could make up for that. Ayeka was the result of his failed attempt at fatherhood. Nobody except for Yosho knew how clouded from hatred her mind had become. She would not hesitate even for a second if she ever got the opportunity to kill him.

Now Ayeka had found a good excuse for what she was about to do. The little boy in her arms would never have to experience the sorrow she had to go through. He would keep being the trustful and sincere little thing he was. He would never have to wake up from the pleasant dreams he was having at the moment, to enter the cruel nightmare of a life in the Royal Family, he would just continue to sleep, forever.

Ayeka looked around to see if anybody was watching and then, satisfied that there was nobody, lowered herself towards the river.

Suddenly the earth shook violently and there was a loud roar. An explosion, and it had occurred nearby.

Ayeka almost dropped the child, but then she straightened up again and looked in the direction the sound had come from. Smoke was raising up into the sky from somewhere near the Royal Palace.

'Certainly some kind of accident,' she thought to herself.

It was then that an alarm went off. It could be heard throughout the entire forest and there was only one explanation Ayeka could think off.

"Space pirates," she whispered, trying to suppress her fear.

Despite the danger of the situation, she knew she had to act fast, or everything would go to waste. In one smooth motion, she dropped the baby into the river and ran back towards the clearing where her parents waited for her.

* * *

Ayeka reached the clearing, panting heavily. She was greeted by a terribly worried Achika. Azusa had left earlier, to investigate what happened.

"My god, Ayeka, are you all right? You had me worried sick, I thought something had happened to you," Achika cried out, hugging her daughter.

"I'm fine mother, but..." Tears stood in Ayeka's eyes and her voice broke.

Achika let her go and took several steps back, her face a mask of horror.

"Where is Yuro?" she asked in a whisper.

"I... he..." Tears were streaming down Ayeka's face freely now. "He fell into the river." With that Ayeka broke down to her knees crying and Achika screamed.

* * *

Chapter notes:

Since I have babbled around enough in the beginning, I will keep it short here. Azusa, Achika, Ayeka and Yosho are in so far, but of course with the first chapter the actual main characters are going to be introduced.

If you liked the prolog, it would be great if you could leave me a review, so I will know if I did something right (or wrong of course).

I hope to see you in chapter one, so until then.

Thanks to Serathim and Geor-sama for helping me out.


	2. Pirate Loot

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of their original creators and all those affiliated with them. I have neither created them, nor do I own them. Any new characters as well as the events within this story are created by me and my sister, so they are our property. This story is written for fun and as an homage to the world of Tenchi.

* * *

Chapter 1 - Pirate Loot

The streets of Kiatto's capital city were as crowded as ever. The majority of the Kiattans were very lively, and enjoyed window shopping, or just being outside all day. In all this hustle it wasn't surprising that nobody noticed the rather conspicuous young woman making her way through the streets. It wasn't the fact that she wore her hair in a wild style that made her stand out, because most Kiattans liked to do the strangest of things with their hair, it was the color of it. The hair of the people around her were darker shades of color, hers was a flashy cyan. Since the average Kiattan was kind of short compared to other races, she also stood out as a bit tall. To anyone who took a closer look it was obvious that she wasn't from Kiatto, but as the people on this planet were friendly to outsiders and were usually self occupied, they ignored her.

That was the reason why the woman hadn't disguised herself, although in most places of the galaxy exposing herself in public would be quite a risk, here she could be relatively sure that nobody would recognize her. This seemed to be developing into one of her easier jobs.

Lost in her thoughts and not paying attention, she bumped into someone unpleasantly hard. The short man was almost knocked to the ground, because her pace had been rather brisk. Nevertheless he managed to regain his balance quickly.

"Oh, I'm very sorry ma'am, believe me," he said looking at her expectantly.

It was obvious that he wasn't the one who had caused this incident, but on Kiatto there were sometimes even friendly arguments, because everyone claimed to be the one responsible for a mess.

However, the woman had no intention of arguing with the guy.

"You better be," she growled, glancing at him fiercely.

The man's face lost all color and for a moment he even lost his self control and panicked. Fear overwhelmed him and he was about to whirl around and just run away. Then he finally got a hold of himself, fought back his fear, and looked at her with true regret.

"Believe me, I am." With that he could no longer stand the sight of the vicious person in front of him and hurried away a bit faster than necessary.

'What spineless people,' the woman thought, grinning to herself. Not that she had a problem with the nature of these people, in fact it would probably make her job as easy as child's play. Being more careful now she continued on her way. She couldn't risk drawing too much attention.

Her destination was only a little farther ahead, so she reached it quickly. A jewelry store, which she happened to know was the most expensive one on the entire planet, and the Kiattans were famous for their skill in producing first class jewelry.

She entered the store. Like every other shop in the capital it was small and well organized. A little shop just like any other. It wasn't unusual that there where no customers in here. Such shops could consider themselves lucky if they made one or two sales a day. This day was going to become an important one in the history of the shop, because the woman was planning to leave with a lot more than a single piece of jewelry.

With a quick look she assured herself that there were no dangerous security systems, obviously her information had been correct, there wasn't much crime here, so there was no need for tight security.

A clerk appeared from a backdoor of the shop and studied the customer, in order to classify her on his wealth scale. Despite that she seemed somehow familiar to him though she was obviously an outsider, he had problems making sense of her appearance.

"Can I help you in any way, ma'am?" he asked with the unpleasant politeness of a salesmen.

"Yes, I'm looking for some jewelry," she answered in her most innocent voice.

The jeweler's face lit up in an instant. She had said "some jewelry", as in more than one, maybe he was going to make a good sale today. He was just about to start advising her in her purchases, when he noticed she had approached and was studying the showcase in front of him. It was the one with the most expensive articles in the entire shop.

"I see you have excellent taste, these are our finest pieces."

"Yeah, I guess so."

Her behavior and way of speaking didn't fit with what he was used to from his customers. That together with the fact that she was an outsider and awfully familiar to him, made the jeweler feel a little uncomfortable. He had a feeling he knew this woman and that it was important, but he just couldn't put his finger on it.

He was about to find out soon anyway.

"I'll take this one," the woman finally announced pointing at one of the items in the display. Despite his bad feeling the clerk couldn't keep a satisfied grin from forming on his face. "Oh, and this one too." She pointed at another expensive item. The man's grin diminished a bit. This girl was enjoying her purchase entirely too much.

"Ah hell, I'll just take everything," she told him, unable to suppress a grin at the joke she had just played on him.

The man lost his composure completely. His face turned white and his voice was shaky as he spoke. "You... you mean..." He trailed off, having lost his voice for a moment.

"That's right, I will take it all without paying," she explained to him in a conversational tone.

"Then... you are... you are..." The man lost even more color and had to press his hands on the top of the showcase, in order to control his shaking. Now that he had the final clue, the realization finally hit him of who this woman was.

Meanwhile the woman waited patiently for him to continue.

"... the space pirate..." his voice became a high squeak.

"Ryoko," she finished for him and the man passed out. He collapsed onto the show case with a thump, but of course the strengthened glass didn't give way under his weight.

Ryoko burst out into laughter and it took her a while to recover to the point where she was able to think again.

"That was fun," she said to herself with satisfaction. It was a shame that not every job worked out like that. All the people who could give her trouble just passing out at her sight, that would be a good thing. But as she considered it she realized that she would miss the action and the rush of combat. She was pretty sure that even with this job there was still some of that in store for her. Although not impossible it was unlikely that the guards at the spaceport would pass out like the clerk. But she would worry about that later.

Considering the circumstances she had decided that it would be best to do this job the old fashioned way. She reached into her transdimensional pocket, a payment she had received for a former job, carried out for the scientist who had entrusted her with this mission, and brought out a large, simple bag. Then she started demolishing the glass that kept her from her loot and emptied all the jewelry into her bag. It took her a while and she made a lot of noise, but there was no interference.

When Ryoko finally finished, she put the heavy bag over her shoulder and left the store, the street that had been so lively only a few moments ago was deserted. Obviously her little raid hadn't gone as unnoticed as she had first thought.

The harmonious people of Kiatto had no experience with such situations and being as fearful as they were, they had scrambled away to hide in their houses when they heard the commotion.

The space pirate had some difficulties trying not to push it by scaring the people a little more, she didn't want to screw up because she wasn't able to control herself, so she flew off in the direction of the space port as fast as possible.

* * *

Inside the Kiatto space checkpoint station Officer Kyaro Kirun threw his partner a dark look.

"In a bad mood again? I'm sorry about that," Pyakko apologized to Kirun.

"It's not a mood it's a constant state of mind and it's not your fault. I only ask you to stop trying to cheer me up," Kirun explained patiently.

Pyakko had been transferred here fresh from the academy and he had no way to know about Kirun's dissatisfaction with his job. Kirun wasn't a normal Kiattan. He was a bit short tempered and, what was extremely unusual, he wanted his life to be an adventure, to have some action in it. He had joined the police force, because that's where he thought he would find some of the action and adventure he was looking for, but he had been wrong. He had been controlling spacecraft and their cargo for two years now and nothing out of the ordinary had ever happened, everything always seemed to go as smoothly as possible. The worst of it was that all the others enjoyed it that way and nobody understood that his constant bad mood was caused by boredom.

Since Kiatto was an out of the way planet, there weren't many interplanetary visitors so only two people were required to control the space port at any given time.

This day had been especially quite. Only a single young woman had arrived for a one day visit and although she had looked odd, nothing had been wrong with her identification, just like always. Now that he thought about it, she should be back any moment now, it was already late afternoon and her ship was still parked in the docking bay.

Exactly at that moment the door slid open and Ryoko entered.

"Ah, good to see you again, ma'am. Did you have a good day on Kiatto?" Pyakko spoke up immediately, much to Kirun's displeasure.

"Yeah it was great!" Ryoko answered.

Kirun's interest in the situation rose quite a bit as he noticed the suspicious bag she carried over her shoulder. He gave his partner a silent sign to stay behind him and approached Ryoko.

"What's in the bag?" he asked angrily, enjoying the chance to play the bad cop.

"Oh, you mean that." Ryoko made a gesture with her head over her shoulder. "I figured you would be interested in it, wanna take a look?"

She let the bag slid off her shoulder and in the same motion slammed it sideways into the Officer. The force of the impact was enough to throw the unfortunate guy into the far wall, where he slumped down unconscious.

Ryoko would never find out that the guard she knocked out would be the happiest man on Kiatto from that day on.

Meanwhile the other guard had drawn his blaster and was about to fire as Ryoko disappeared in front of him, leaving the bag to slump on the floor.

"Shit!" he shouted and whirled around by instinct, simultaneously firing his blaster.

That was a mistake, because Ryoko, standing behind him, still found the time to close the barrel of the weapon with two fingers, making it explode in his hands. The guard screamed in pain clutching his burned hands and gave Ryoko the opening she needed to punch him in the face, making him fly through the room like his partner before.

After making sure that there would be no more interference, the pirate casually flew over to her bag, took it up and left the checkpoint for her ship.

She wondered if the Kiattans would increase security after this incident. Not that it would do them any good, it would only make it more of a challenge for her to raid them again.

However it was unlikely that she would do this. After she had made herself a reputation in the past, especially during the 17 years of being part of a feared gangster trio, planetary raids had become too complicated for her taste and she now focused more on actual space piracy.

She snapped out of her thoughts as she finally reached her ship and a few minutes later the huge pirate cruiser Souja left the planet, in order for Ryoko to meet up with her client.

* * *

Another half an hour. Officer Jonan Rim took his eyes from the digital timer with a sigh and began staring at his notebook. On top of the screen, which listed the planned activities for the evening, was a name written in bold letters.

Emalda.

Perhaps she was already waiting for him in the huge entrance hall right now.

The dark haired man slid around in his chair. Only ten floors packed with the most advanced security equipment in the entire Galaxy Police separated him from his girl right now.

At this thought another sigh escaped the throat of the young man. Half an hour could become an eternity, if one had nothing else to do than waiting. And the security guard 9-2 had nothing else to do. Since Chief Karun-Pan, one of the few persons who had access to this section, had taken his leave over an hour ago, there was no chance to get involved into a time requiring operation anymore. Without a strict order Officer Rim was not allowed to even set a foot out of his small security office, except of course in case of emergencies.

The only way left for him to make the time pass was the attentive observation of the eight screens, showing an inside view of every cell out of two angles. Not for the first time he asked himself why a man in blue was required for this job at all.

The Grand Space Prison was not only the biggest, but also the most secure of all of the prisons run by the Galaxy Police and the cells in this particular section had the highest security standards ever to be found somewhere. Nobody had ever managed to get out of there alive.

Rim's glance came across the fifth screen, which much alike the sixth showed an empty room. If one took a closer look it was almost possible to see the leftovers of the blood traces on the ceiling. Where ever that guy had gotten the plasma cannon from was a mystery, but he should have known that he would have no chance against the energy reflective walls of the cell with it. No, nobody got out of there alive.

The occupant of cell 10-II had obviously realized this. She had been captured a short time before he had been transferred into this position. That had had to be about two years ago already. Since then, the blue haired woman had never tried to free herself. Even now she was lying on the small bed glaring at the ceiling like she always did.

The sound of footsteps took the Officer's attention away from the screen. In a practiced movement he turned to the open side of his office and leaned forward just as enough so that he had a good view of the narrow corridor. In spite of the closing lift doors, there was nobody to be seen on the left side of his office. Only when he turned his head in the other direction his eyes made contact with the back of a black clothed man.

"Hey Mister, wait!" With these words Rim got up and rushed to follow the man, who continued his way as if he hadn't heard him. "I said stop!"

This time the intruder seemed to have noticed him. He stopped, but did not turn and with that leaving an absence of the respect due to an Officer of the tenth section. Rim had a grudge for people who didn't appreciate the observation service he handled for so many hours.

"Who do you think you are, that you can just walk in here?" he snapped at the man.

"My name is Trake, Commander of the third Galaxy Police patrol ship fleet's flag ship Hirazenty and Detective Sergeant 1st class in duty of the Galaxy Police." The man showed his ID-Card to the dumbfounded Rim before he continued in his monolog. "It seems I have to have a word with the Chief of the GSP. How can he entrust such incompetent people with the custody of the most dangerous criminals?"

Rim was infuriated. "With all due respect Commander Trake, sir. I'm not incompetent."

"You are not to judge this. A security post, like you pretend to be one, has to inform himself about the past, crimes and motives of all the captives. You haven't done this, otherwise you would have known who I am. I hope you are aware what consequences that may have for you."

Commander Trake enjoyed the sight of the man in blue, who was visibly uncomfortable by now. "If I were in your place I would already start searching for a new job. Dismissed."

With that he just turned his back on the security guard 9-2, who suddenly had forgotten all about the date with his girlfriend.

He had no way to know that Trake was just bluffing. For the commander there was nothing better than the demonstration of his own authority.

Trake slowly walked down the narrow corridor until he reached the final door, which blocked the way to the cell quarters. He placed his hand on the DNA-recognizer to the right of the door and prepared for the retina-scan. A red beam of light shot out from above where he had placed his hand and made contact with his right eye. It was a somewhat disturbing sensation, but fortunately it lasted only a few seconds. The light dissipated, a confirmation sound was heard and the mighty doors slid open. He entered and for the first time his black boots made contact with the bright polished ground of the GSP's high security section.

The Commander of the Hirazenty hadn't decided to visit this place without a good reason. He was finally about to get what had eagerly awaited for so long. All the outer circumstances were already perfectly organized, now it was for him to make his dream come true and climb the ladder of career a few steps. Since he wanted to minimize the risk of a failure, he was on his way to the person, whose arrest had brought him the rank of Commander, in one way or the other.

Still, the usually composed man had difficulties fighting down his inner agitation as he approached the second cell and repeated the DNA-Scan procedure. Without a sound the energy barrier that blocked the way into and out of the cell vanished, but the Commander hesitated a little before entering.

It wouldn't be easy to get information out of the prisoner, but Trake knew that it was no problem for him to manipulate the people in a way that they would think to act in their own interest actually only serving his purposes. He only hoped that this procedure would lead him to success one more time.

Just before she heard the footsteps, the inhabitant of the second cell could feel the force field vanishing. But at the same time she knew that this wasn't the chance for escape she had been waiting for all the time.

"I wish you a good evening," a somewhat unpleasant male voice was heard. "My name is Trake and you have to be Miss Nagi."

She didn't need to look at the guy in order to know that he was one of those smart-ass GP pirate hunters, who hoped to build up her will to cooperate with his slimy entrance. Many of this kind had visited her before, but all of them had left more or less dissatisfied and this guy too would leave without hearing a single word from her.

"Well... I see you are treated appropriate here. I'm relieved about that."

With this conscious provocation Trake had hoped to get a reaction from the woman, who was still lying on the simple bed unmoving. However, she not even broke her gaze at the reflective ceiling of the room.

The Commander gave a barely audible sigh, just loud enough for her to hear. "I guess you take me for one of those lawful desk-keepers, who made it their ultimate goal to defeat all the evil in the entire universe. There are more than enough people with these foolish illusions about a perfect world in the Galaxy Police. My opinion is a slightly different one."

He made a break. Even if she was hiding it, Trake knew that the blue haired woman was waiting for him to continue now.

"You space pirates are of great importance for the balance of powers. Only because of the permanent effort to capture you, to surpass your abilities, a true police man can improve himself. If there were no cunning thieves like you, an establishment like the Galaxy Police would be useless and all the good Officers would be out of work."

Nagi sighed and closed her eyes irritated. Every child knew that light and dark were inseparable, she failed to see the point in the stupid story of this guy.

"No. I have the greatest respect for the space pirates and I hope for your help in a certain issue."

That said it. One more who wanted information about a secret hideout. Nagi decided that his words weren't worth her further attention.

Again she became absorbed in her dark thoughts and devoted herself to her urge for revenge. The deep male voice in her ears mixed with the agonized screams of a woman created by her mind. They were always the same images and Nagi knew that they would come true one time. She would let her former partner feel the same pain she had given to her. For Nagi the past two years had been an eternity and she had had lots of time to think over what happened back then.

"...Ryoko..."

Nagi instantly jumped up from her bed, which slid back into the wall behind her, and stood in front of the almost startled to death police Detective.

"What did you just say?"

Trake hadn't been prepared for such an extreme reaction. It took him a moment to recover his ability to speak.

After that he answered her question in a calm voice. "I'm glad that I managed to arouse your interest. As I said, I see it as my duty to arrest the dreaded space pirate Ryoko."

"Ryoko," hissed Nagi. The hatred that flared up like a darting flame in her eyes didn't go unnoticed by the Commander. Nevertheless, Trake thought it better to play inattentive at the time.

"Am I right with the assumption that you know Ryoko?"

Nagi took a closer look at the man, who was working for the GP and considered if she should answer or remain silent. Possibly this was the chance she had been waiting for to get her revenge against Ryoko she so desired.

"I know her."

This statement didn't contain any new knowledge for the Commander. If he had not known that Nagi had worked together with Ryoko for 17 years he wouldn't have been there to talk with her. Still, it showed him that the blue haired woman with the face markings was willing to cooperate for now.

"Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I get the impression that you are not on friendly terms with her."

Nagi let out her breath quietly. Her dark red eyes burned into those of the Commander as she calmly advised him not to intrude in her terms with Ryoko.

There had been a time in which the trio of space pirates had been matchless. The three greatest thieves in the galaxy in perfect harmony with each other. Every coup had been a success. But people always changed. Nagi would never forgive Ryoko for what had happened two years ago. Such private matters were none of the business of an outsider.

"Get to the point. What do you want to know?"

* * *

Rim had returned to his office. That had been a most unpleasant encounter. He knew there were people like Trake in the GP, but he had never actually met one of them before. People who loved to prove their superiority over others. The Commander's threat had probably been a bluff, so Rim wasn't really worried about his job, still he was angered about Trake's behavior.

He took a look at the timer and realized that he still had fifteen minutes left until end of duty.

'Let's take a look at what the Commander is up to,' he thought as he focused his eyes on the screen showing the insides of cell II.

Trake had just entered and now he seemed to talk to the woman lying on the bed. Rim couldn't help but give a satisfied smile, many had tried this before and the result had always been the same. Never had he seen the woman, he tried to remember her name... Nagi, yes Nagi it was, never had he seen Nagi speaking a single word since he had taken the post. Trake would probably be in a bad mood when he got out, so Rim hoped that he would be gone by then.

The dark haired man continued to amuse himself about the futile efforts of the Commander, as Nagi suddenly jumped out of her lying position. At first Rim thought she was going to attack Trake and almost activated the alarm, but then she stopped in front of the Commander and spoke.

Rim's eyes almost bulged out at the sight and he rushed to activate the audio.

For a moment there was silence and the Officer started to fear that he had missed the event, but then, "I'm glad that I managed to arouse your interest. As I said, I see it as my duty to arrest the dreaded space pirate Ryoko."

This was starting to get really interesting. So the Commander was a Ryoko-hunter, there weren't much of them in the Galaxy Police and the Officer actually felt a little respect for Trake now. He had to be a tough one for setting himself such a high goal.

"Ryoko."

It was the first time that Rim heard Nagi speak and the voice sent a shiver down his spine. He remembered reading a report about the arrest of Nagi, most of it had been declared top secret, so that he couldn't access it, but he had learned that Nagi previously had formed some kind of pirate group together with Ryoko.

However, the way she had spoken the name was not the way one spoke the name of a partner. If it had been his name she had spoken that way, Rim considered it a possibility that he would have died on the spot.

The Commander's thoughts seemed to have developed into a similar direction, because he inquired about it, but Nagi wouldn't tell him.

Rim continued watching in amazement as Nagi answered Trake's questions about Ryoko's special abilities and weaknesses in great detail and even forgot the time over it.

As the Commander finally finished his interrogation, Rim realized that he should have left over ten minutes ago. He got into a hurry out of two reasons, he didn't want to meet the Commander on his way out and he didn't want to miss his date. As quickly as possible Rim shut down his office and hurried to the lift. A wave of relief overcame him as the lift doors closed without Trake appearing in the doorway at the other end of the corridor.

All of a sudden he started chuckling, as he thought back to his earlier apprehension of the time passing too slow.

* * *

Thin trickles of vapor rose out of the small cup and those who would have taken a look inside, would have come to the conclusion, that the hot liquid in there was in fact coffee, very strong coffee.

Tenchi Masaki took a sip and, in an unsuitable fast movement, placed the cup on the control terminal in front of him. He hated strong coffee, but it seemed to be the only possibility to stop the fatigue that tried to get a hold of him.

Bored his brown eyes looked over the sensor statements one more time, they hadn't changed since he had, according to Washu's instructions, navigated the Yagami into the wobbling nebula more than twelve hours ago, they hadn't changed and they also wouldn't change this time.

Tenchi leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. There was no need to get impatient. How long had he waited for the chance which presented itself to him now? Fragments of memory coursed through his head. There was his first encounter with her. After the shattering defeat back then his promising career as a GP Officer had ended. But he had gotten himself a new goal. He, Tenchi Masaki, former galaxy policeman, would capture the greatest thief of the universe, the feared space pirate Ryoko. For that purpose he had sacrificed his career, for that purpose he lived, and if he had to, he would wait for eternity for it to come true.

The strange scientist had spoken of a few hours, but obviously her understanding of time differed a lot from that of a normal human. He wasn't surprised though. After all, his meeting with the short woman had developed somewhat other than expected too.

Out of trustworthy sources he had gotten the information, that Ryoko was doing business with Washu now and then. The scientist seemed to be the only one who maintained some kind of long term contact with the space pirate. Recently Tenchi had decided to take the risk and pay the evil genius a visit.

Since Tenchi had made his escape from the galaxy police back then on that fateful day, he was on the run and he had declared it one of his highest priorities to cover up every step he made. Two years of avoiding being tracked down by the GP had made him somewhat confident with his own stealth abilities.

Still, as he had boarded Washu's secret hideout, she had already awaited him. But as if that wasn't enough, she had even known why he was there and told him that he was exactly the right person to finally rid her of Ryoko, who like she had explained to him kept pestering her for decades now. Finally without giving him much possibility to protest she had implemented an Electro Magnetic Pulse weapon in his ship and told him to hide for a few hours in the nebula, Ryoko would eventually show up then.

A smile crept over the young man's face.

"If properly charged up for a few minutes, it should be able to penetrate almost every shield," Washu had told him about the E.M.P. with a disturbing lot of self-confidence.

It had seemed a little easy, but then again, why shouldn't he be on the lucky side of fate for once? He took Washu's obvious grudge for Ryoko as his ultimate chance and tried to keep his doubts out of the picture.

Tenchi's hand searched for the cup of coffee. He had just closed his fingers around the cold cup as an audio signal brought him out of his thoughts. From one moment to the next he had forgotten his weariness, entered a few commands and stared at the view screen intently. Then his eyes started shining. Washu had kept her word. The Souja had appeared and followed a course directly towards the space station.

"That's it," murmured Tenchi as he made final preparations for the start. This time Ryoko wouldn't escape him.

* * *

After the Souja had set down on the artificial ground with a faint hiss, there was complete silence in the huge room, only disrupted by the quite humming of the insufficient lighting equipment.

Ryoko materialized in front of her ship. "DAMN, WASHU WHERE ARE YOU?"

Of course she hadn't really expected that the all busy scientist had gotten to notice her transmission and would have been there for her reception. So there was no choice left for Ryoko but to search for Washu and that wouldn't be an easy task.

The space pirate shouldered her bag and approached one of the three doors that led out of the hangar at random. The door wings slid open and gave sight into a long narrow pathway.

"That's good," murmured Ryoko and floated on slowly.

She remembered her last visit to the small station quite well and with it a door that had suddenly led into nothingness. That was also the reason why she avoided teleporting from one place to another. One had to be prepared for everything here.

But the pathway she already followed for a few minutes now, seemed to be harmless. With a grin on her face Ryoko sped up her pace and raced along the narrow passage. She followed every ascent and every bending, always keeping an eye on the walls. The entrance to Washu's lab just had to be somewhere.

As time passed, without her surroundings changing in the least bit, the cyan haired woman started cursing to herself. Every way had to have an end. Or could there be a thing like an endless pathway?

"Damn you, Washu!" Ryoko cursed again.

She was already playing with the thought of turning back, as the end of the tunnel came into sight. It was marked by a door.

The space pirate's feet touched the ground directly in front of it, but the awaited hiss wasn't heard. A glance at the smooth metal of the door didn't reveal any electrical mechanism.

Ryoko leaned forward a bit, until her head connected with the silver-grey material unpleasantly. On from that moment her good mood, caused by the successful theft on Kiatto, started to fade slowly.

"What's going on here?" With all her might Ryoko rammed a fist against the hard steel.

The result of this wrath driven action was disappointing. Nevertheless an evil grin formed on her face.

"You wanted it that way, Washu."

The pirate sat her bag down, took a few steps back and directed her hands at the closed door. The smooth surface reflected the glowing energy ball, that formed in Ryoko's hands and projected devilish dancing shadows on her face.

Exactly in this moment the door slid open. "Ah Ryoko, why don't you come in?" rang a cheery nasal voice from inside.

Ryoko stamped into the huge dusky room furiously and the pink haired girl, that had sat in front of a holotop in the middle of it left her place and stepped up to the fuming pirate, her chair and holotop vanishing the moment she left them alone. The look of the small scientist made it obvious that she had waited for the arrival of her guest for quite some time now. However she never got a chance to comment on this.

A strong hand seized her collar and lifted her into the air. "Be damned Washu! Spare me with your little games, or I'll blow that smile out of your face and believe me, that won't be funny at all!"

The sole inhabitant of the space station calmly met the angry glow in the yellow eyes of the pirate with a suggestive smile.

Her short temper was as well a strong point as a weak point of Ryoko, just as it was supposed to be.

"In case you are finished now, you can set me down again."

One could almost observe how Ryoko exploded inwardly. Who was this person to play jokes on her and even dare ordering her around afterwards.

"The hell I will do! Not until you swear to leave out the hide-and-seek games in the future. I'm sick of wasting my time in them! Do you understand?"

The pirate shook the little woman and pulled her close enough for their eyes to be at the same level. At this point Ryoko's eyes lost focus on Washu's hands and as she continued in her vicious torrent of words, she did not notice the small terminal appearing below her. Washu started typing away on it with one hand, never breaking eye-contact with her adversary.

"There are a lot of other customers out there, who know how to properly value my services. I'm the best, I don't need to have myself being fooled around by you. Next time..."

"Don't you think that you are exaggerating a little?" Washu interrupted her.

She suddenly stood on her own feet again and watched a ferociously struggling Ryoko. A couple of metal tentacles had shot out of nowhere, enclosed around her upper body and now pulled her back hard.

"Let go, you metal vermin!"

The cyan haired woman tried to twist out of the iron grip of the machine with no success. As she stopped struggling and cursing for a moment, her mind started to work again and she remembered her powers, which could help her to get out of this situation with ease.

She teleported herself out of the machine's grasp and immediately started to fire energy blasts at the withdrawing tentacles. Satisfied that she had destroyed all of them Ryoko set back on the ground.

Washu already sat in front of her holotop again, letting her fingers rush over the keys with great eager. Only a few more minutes, she had to buy him a few more minutes.

"You took care of the job?" she asked, without looking up.

Her tone of voice made the question sound so subordinate, it almost became a statement and seemed to answer itself therefore. Ryoko however, seemed to take it as the question it was.

"Sure, it was easy enough. The people of Kiatto are so naive, they almost handed me the stuff on their own."

Although Ryoko still had good cause to be mad, she just had to smile as she remembered the flabbergasted face of the jeweler. But her smile made place for a staggered look as she watched Washu rummaging through the bag, she thought she had put down in front of the lab door.

"Yes, that should be enough for the upcoming two month's charges," she said and placed the precious loot away without care.

Usually, the people who hired Ryoko would have really ambitious plans, like taking over a planet or an entire system. There were also those who wanted to climb the ladder of success or weaken their mighty opponents with her help. Mostly jobs on a big scale, causing an impact on a big scale. That was how she had made herself a name in the past 500 years.

Washu was an exception there, she hired Ryoko on a regular basis, as she put it, to cover her incredible scientific expenses. The pirate had long since stopped asking herself on what Washu was spending the money, when she seemed to be able to create everything she needed out of nothingness. Although she often researched about them out of interest, the ambitions of her customers were normally none of her business.

Washu meanwhile had turned her attention to the holoscreen again, which now showed the outsides of the station, instead of some unknown nebula like before.

Ryoko couldn't prevent herself from wondering what was going on in the head of this woman. Was she really the genius she always pretended to be or was she just crazy? Forgetful in any case.

"Uhm Washu, I didn't get you this stuff out of kindness. Where's my payment?"

Washu didn't react. She kept staring at the screen and another wave of anger overcame Ryoko. "Now what's it that's so important out there?"

She stepped up behind the scientist and roughly pulled her away from her terminal on her shoulder, taking a look on the screen for herself. It wasn't showing only the station, like she had first thought, there was something else out there. Her interest awakened, she was about to take a closer look, as the holoscreen suddenly disappeared in front of her.

"You will find out soon enough," Washu explained from behind her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ryoko turned to look at the scientist, only to find her stepping through a trans-dimensional portal this instant.

"I'll be right back," were her last words before the portal closed behind her.

"HEY WASHU, STOP!"

But the scientist was gone, leaving Ryoko to herself in the huge lab.

The pirate sighted and let her gaze drift through the room. The far walls were out of sight, because of the insufficient lighting, but Ryoko knew that the lab was the biggest room in the entire station. She couldn't exactly remember when she had been here for the first time, but it must have been an eternity ago. Long before her time as member of a gangster trio.

Still, not much seemed to have changed since then. There were glass tubes in man's height, filled with blistering liquids of various colors, huge machine-monsters which would hopefully never come to life and of course the big artificial-sea pools with their weird creatures, that could not be seen right now, but from which she knew they were there, making up some of the border of the lab. Ryoko had studied these pools once and realized that they seemed to have no far end. How such a huge place could fit into the comparatively small space station, was an enigma to her.

Partially rusted or completely dissolved tools were scattered over the ground and Ryoko had not the slightest idea as for what they might have been used once. As she compared her current impressions with her memory like this, an unusual sentimental feeling washed over her suddenly.

With a quick movement of her head Ryoko banished the strange thoughts. Maybe it was right that she often took jobs from Washu, so that she would have to visit the station equally often, but that was no reason to get sentimental about it.

A slight buzzing from behind made Ryoko aware that Washu had returned through her trans-dimensional portal. She tried to hide her mixed up feelings as well as she could and turned to face the scientist.

"That's it! My newest masterpiece, just finished and already working perfectly!" The scientist fanned a palm sized piece of metal under Ryoko's nose.

The pirate's doubts were obvious. "You are telling me that this tiny piece of crap is the impenetrable mirror shield?"

Washu took a deep breath. "This 'piece of crap' happens to be one of the most advanced technical devices the universe has ever seen. Although it's not really a device for itself, more of a converter. Once merged with your system, it will access your shield generator and keep track of the shield frequency. If you activate it, it will send signals to the generator, causing it to change the frequency according to the new information. The information I implemented will cause the shield to change it's energy matrix by taking advantage of the attributes of stellar light. The adjusted shield will be able to adapt to any form of incoming energy and reflect it properly."

The scientist intentionally let out the more complicated details.

"Aha," Ryoko commented, simulating comprehension. "And where do I have to integrate it?"

"That's easy. If I remember right you had your ship tuned up with two additional shield generators for better performance. My device needs to access them all at exactly the same time in order for it to work properly. An effective way to ensure this would be to implement it within the central power supply system. Unfortunately, if you want to do that, you will have to enter the ship's main reactor, but I guess for someone with your abilities it's no problem to survive long enough in there."

"Hm..." came Ryoko's reaction.

Washu looked up at the space pirate, amusing herself over the look of mixed confusion and shock for a moment, then she presented the second, a lot easier, method of integrating it.

"But if you don't want to waste too much time you can also just switch the little devil on self-operation..." She turned an almost invisible mini-lever. "...and he will integrate himself in your system on his own by automatically phasing into the right place."

"Okay, understood." Ryoko grabbed the miracle-machine out of the small woman's hand and was about to rush away.

"Wait!", she heard the voice of Washu behind her and turned one more time. "You better don't use it for more than ten seconds a time, otherwise it may cause an overload in your shield generators."

The lighting revealed a knowing smile on the face of the scientist. "And you better integrate it right away. You don't want to get into the next battle without it, right?"

Ryoko shrugged and flew away.

* * *

Tenchi positioned the Yagami near the docking hangar of Washu's space station. He was going to take Ryoko by surprise, in order to get himself at least a little advantage.

Again he had to wait patiently, they were taking longer in there than he had imagined. Trusting Washu may have been a desperate thing to do. The rumors Tenchi had known her from hadn't exactly described her as a trustworthy person, he only hoped, that Ryoko had even less cause to trust her. It was a possibility that they were planning his doom inside there at the moment, but Tenchi soon banished the thought and concentrated on the matters at hand.

He checked is systems one more time, only to find out that everything was well set. The weapons and shields were ready and the ships engines were warmed up to grant the highest possible performance, he needed to be quick if he wanted to stand a chance.

Tenchi had just finished his check as the hangar's space gateway opened.

He tensed. The fateful moment had arrived.

Ryoko carefully maneuvered her ship out of the docking hangar. Her mind was still occupied, trying to make sense of Washu and the strange emotions that had come over her while being on the station. Although she knew the scientist for hundreds of years now, she doubted that she would ever be able to truly understand her. Everytime Ryoko had left the station in the past she had been more or less confused about something that happened to her in there, but this time it was a little different. Washu had been different. Ryoko had no way to point at what exactly it was and still she felt that something was going on.

She had just passed the gateway and made preparations to go on hyper speed as everything happened at once. The ships sensors suddenly indicated high alarm and emphasized it with an unpleasant sound. Before Ryoko could react to the new threat the ship rocked under her feet as it was hit by enemy fire. With the routine of a battle experienced pilot, the pirate immediately brought her shields up to the maximum, prepared her own weapons and checked for damage, all at the same time.

Fortunately the damage was minor, because the Souja was build well enough to even take a few direct hits without having any vital systems losing performance.

Reassured that she was still at full power Ryoko started to check for her enemy and discovered that it was a small GP patrol ship.

As the Souja's computer gave her the identification of the ship, she couldn't prevent herself from chuckling. So he had been the cause for her recent nervousness. It seemed that he still hadn't given up on her.

"DAMN!" Tenchi cursed against his nature. He had only been able to give her one hit and from the way it looked like, it must have been more of a tickle to her than anything else.

Now he was at a total loss, he had hoped to damage her seriously right in the beginning, so that he would have enough time to charge up the E.M.P.. It would take a couple of minutes at least and he knew if Ryoko got serious he had no chance to hold out for so long. His small patrol ship was no match for the feared pirate cruiser.

Tenchi hadn't forgotten how this ship single-handedly had made a mess of an entire GP fleet. In spite of all that, he was still confident that he would win this time, because as much as he hated it, Ryoko had a tendency to not get serious with him. As if to confirm his thoughts a transmission came in.

"Hi Tenchi!" Ryoko's voice cheered. "I didn't know that you were so straight. You know, some people would consider such an entrance rude, but I like it, it kind of lights my fire."

Tenchi moaned, he just couldn't figure out what it was with that woman, but soon the E.M.P. would be ready and she would have to reconsider making fun of him.

He opened a channel, if he didn't wanted her to become suspicious he had to play along.

"Space pirate Ryoko, you are hereby placed under arrest, for breaking galaxy law on various occasions," he stated in his calmest voice possible.

"You can't arrest me Tenchi, only a galaxy policeman can do such things." She was quiet for a moment as if thinking about something. "... Ah, now I understand. You want to play cop and pirate, my you are a nasty boy," Ryoko giggled.

"The only thing I want is to disintegrate you!" Tenchi was surprised at his own sharpness.

"So you are a wild one. Well then, let's see if you can get me!"

Ryoko opened fire at him and although she was obviously not intending to destroy the Yagami, Tenchi had to fly wild maneuvers in order to avoid the bunch of the laser blasts and plasma balls and he did a very good job at it. But since the fire covered him up completely some of the blasts found their destination anyway and the rocking of his ship showed Tenchi that it's shields were not designed for attacks on that scale.

A quick glance at the status of the E.M.P. made him realize that it still had way to go. He tried to fire a few shots from his single plasma gun at her, but the attack was easily absorbed in the Souja's shields.

"You are no fun Tenchi. You are supposed to capture me, but at this rate it's not going to work that way. I guess we will have to reverse roles if we want it to be real fun."

This was one of the moments in which Tenchi didn't know if Ryoko was just teasing him, or if she really meant what she said. Anyway, he had to act.

Ryoko was enjoying herself a lot. There was nothing better than having fun with Tenchi. She hadn't thought that he would follow her around half the galaxy, but somehow it was cute and she liked his nervous reactions to her teasing. Maybe she would disable his ship and teleport over. The look on his face would be priceless.

Tenchi dodged a few more of her attacks, spun around and took a course directly at her.

"At least he has guts, let's see what he is up to," Ryoko silently said to herself.

The Yagami approached at rapid speed and a thought occurred to the pirate. What if she had gone to far and he had snapped? She knew that he was a bit crazy and fanatic, but ramming her was a different story.

She reopened fire at him and this time with all she had got, which was enough to give even a Juraian warship some trouble.

It was against all the rules that held the universe together, but the Yagami managed to dodge her attacks and approached even further.

"How the heck does he do that?" Considering the unexpected danger, Ryoko was slowly losing her temper. "Stop it Tenchi! This is crazy!" she shouted over the communication link, but of course got no response.

The Yagami had almost reached the Souja and there seemed to be no way to avoid the collision anymore. Finally Tenchi got so close that he entered the Souja's shield perimeter. He changed his course slightly so the ships wouldn't collide, but their hulls almost scratched along each other and opened fire like a madman.

In the fragment of a second that he was inside the Souja's shield perimeter he managed to get in a couple of hits.

The ship shook violently and the pirate had to float into the air a bit in order to not get knocked of her feet. A noise and a flashing light made it obvious that this attack had in fact done some damage. She checked the damage status, to find out that she had lost quite a bit of her weaponry, nothing that could not be repaired, but still he had harmed her.

"That was a good one." Over the com link she cheered, "Yeah Tenchi, that's the spirit! Keep it up!"

She decided that he had earned himself the right to be the first one she would test her new equipment on. She prepared Washu's mirror shield. Although it wouldn't have much of an effect considering his particular weak weapons, but for sure it would lower his fighting spirit.

Tenchi marveled at himself for the great maneuver he had flown. He knew he couldn't do that again, it was just that rush of power that overcame him sometimes and made him able to do things far out of the ordinary. Nevertheless, since only Ryoko's weaponry and not her shields seemed to be damaged it hadn't done him any good at all, except from making an impression.

Ryoko cheered for him. So she was still in her playful mood, but that would probably change soon. The E.M.P. was charged up and ready to fire.

"Hey, I have an idea. Why don't you give me your best shot and we find out if I can take it. Come on, try it, I won't struggle at all."

It was quite a coincidence that she would ask that of him now. Tenchi wasn't going to wait for her to repeat her offer, remembering what Washu had assured him about the E.M.P.'s ability to penetrate almost any shields.

With a grin, that somehow looked misplaced on his friendly face, he fired the charge.

Tenchi fired. The looks of the energy ball that approached her with ridiculously slow speed gave Ryoko the impression that Tenchi was trying to use some kind of secret weapon against her. It looked different then a normal plasma bolt and was a lot slower. In fact the pirate had never seen anything like it, it was like an accumulation of crackling electricity, held into the form of a ball by an unseen force.

As the charge came dangerously close she managed to take her stare from it and finally activated the mirror shield. This would be an even better test than she had thought. Whatever Tenchi had fired at her, she was curious if the shield would be able to reflect it.

The ball was annoyingly slow. Washu hadn't mentioned this. If it wasn't for Ryoko's overconfidence, the entire plan of disabling her would have been ruined. She would have been able to avoid it with ease, but she didn't.

The blast had almost reached her, as the Souja enveloped herself in a sphere of purple light. The E.M.P. charge made contact with it and Tenchi gasped.

It simply bounced off!

Not only that, it came flying back directly at him, with a hundred times the speed he had fired it.

"DAMN, NOOOOO!" Tenchi managed to exclaim before the ball struck and it's crackling electricity spread all over his ship, disabling every system it made contact with. Soon the Yagami was floating dead in space.

Some of the systems were still functional, but he had lost the weapons and shields and was locked to the spot. This wasn't turning out like Tenchi had imagined. He was at Ryoko's mercy now and that idea didn't please him at all.

"Tenchi, are you all right?" The words were spoken a bit too hasty as to be meant as a taunt.

"Well, obviously not," he told her. After that there was silence as Tenchi was at a loss about what to say in such a situation.

For a moment Ryoko had thought that he had somehow killed himself with this crazy weapon. Although she didn't know why, she disliked the idea and was glad to hear his voice.

The weapon had made a mess of his ship, almost all the Yagami's vital systems seemed to be offline and the ship started floating in space. It made an impression like prey ready to be plundered.

Ryoko realized that this was a chance to scare Tenchi out of himself and she wouldn't let it pass. "You know, I could come over and see if I was able to help you, I'm pretty sure that there are some things I could do for you," she suggested in a seductive voice.

At first, there was no response, indicating that the words had struck home and as Tenchi finally answered he seemed to be really out of it. "Uhm well... thanks, but... I guess... it's not that bad. I should be able to handle it by myself."

If she came over now, Tenchi would literally be caught with his shorts down. He hadn't prepared his fighting equipment, because in the scenario he had had in mind there had been no need for it.

He imagined what would happen if she materialized on the Yagami now, but soon banished the thought as it started to develop into the wrong direction.

"I still need to see if you have any valuable goods on board, as you know, I'm the pirate remember?" Ryoko explained to him.

"... ahm... that would be a waste of time, I guess. I don't have anything of use over here," Tenchi stammered.

"Oh, that's too bad, but if a pirate wins a battle, he never leaves without his loot. If you don't have anything of value I will just have to take you instead."

Tenchi had not the slightest idea how he could get himself out of this miserable situation, as suddenly a thought occurred to him.

"Well the self-destruct mechanism is still functional and I don't like the idea of being pirate loot at all." In his opinion this was the most stupid lie he had ever told in his life, the Yagami didn't even have something like a self-destruct mechanism, but it was the only thing he could think of.

This time it was Ryoko who was silent for a moment.

She was pretty sure that he was bluffing, but she had no intention of going over there right now anyway, there was a new client she had to meet in a few hours and she was already late.

"In that case I will have to take my rightful loot later. Just remember that I own you from now on and I'm going to call in my property when we meet the next time." The whole idea with the loot was a lot of fun, because it appealed to her how Tenchi would feel about it.

Having teased him enough, she set a course for her next destination and accelerated to hyper speed.

The Souja disappeared into hyper space, Ryoko's last words still ringing in Tenchi's ears. This had been more than humiliating. He had been sure that he would have captured her this time and she had managed to reverse the situation. He wouldn't let her get away with it, this was only one more reason to catch her as soon as possible.

But right now he had more urgent problems, for example that his ship was floating dead in space, far beyond repair. Maybe he would have been better off if he had taken Ryoko's offer... but then again, maybe not.

He thought about how this could have happened in the first place. He had spent the past two years following every step Ryoko had taken and keeping track of the Souja's technical data. She shouldn't have possessed a device like the one she had used against him.

"Except maybe if she..."

Everything started to fall in place before him.

"It should be able to penetrate almost every shield," Washu had told him. "That doesn't include the ones I created of course," her grin had added.

"Washu," he hissed, clenching his fists. "I'm going to get you for this."

He was about to hail the station, as the realization struck him, that it wasn't there anymore. For a second he inspected the place where it had been dumbfounded, then he slumped into the pilot chair.

"So that's it, I'm really lost in space now."

* * *

Chapter notes:

A big part of this chapter was written by my sister and translated by me. She wrote the first two thirds of the prison scene, as well as the following scenes up to the space battle. I am responsible for Ryoko's raid on Kiatto, the last third of the prison scene and the space battle.

You may have realized that Ryoko is not an actual space pirate, but more of some kind of a mercenary. I always wanted to read a story with Ryoko as a mixture of pirate and mercenary, so I decided to just write it myself and slightly changed the definition of the term space pirate in my story. Her ship is the one from Shin. Sorry, Ryo-ohki fans.

Nagi has made her entrance too and even though their history is a totally different one, I still tried to preserve her relationship to Ryoko.

Tenchi as an exiled Galaxy Police Officer is the most tricky part.

I believe there is nothing left to say about Washu.

I hope you are going to write what you think about how I managed to implement the different elements. See you in the next chapter.

Again, thanks to Serathim and Geor-sama.


	3. Operation Nagako

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of their original creators and all those affiliated with them. I have neither created them, nor do I own them. Any new characters as well as the events within this story are created by me and my sister, so they are our property. This story is written for fun and as an homage to the world of Tenchi.

* * *

Chapter 2 - Operation Nagako

Tenchi felt entirely at ease. He was in a place where no sorrow and no pain existed, only safety and love. He was with his family, with his mother. Not his adoptive mother, who had taken him in at young age and raised him into a promising GP officer. It was his real mother, deep in his heart he could tell.

Tenchi wished this moment would never pass. He was with his mother and although he could not make out her features, because she was only a blurred image in front of him, he knew that she was the most beautiful woman in the world. He wanted to speak to her, tell her how much he loved her, but found that he couldn't. His words were ripped from his lips the instant he spoke them, so that no sound would emerge.

It was then he realized that the care he could feel emitting from his mother was not directed at him, but at the baby she was holding in her arms.

His mother couldn't see him, she didn't even know he was there.

Tenchi started to feel fear. Fear that his mother wouldn't notice him, fear that he would be cut off from her protection.

He shouted for her, but again his words were carried away and the fear became terror.

Then everything around him was cast into blackness. A terrifying absence of light where he could not even make out his own body. He continued screaming for his mother and this time he could hear his words, but the sounds came out wrong as if they were distorted somehow.

His breath grew short and his terror became sheer panic. He was under water, he couldn't breath anymore, he was drowning. Desperately he tried to swim to the surface, but in the darkness around him he didn't know in which direction to search for it. He panicked even more as he realized that he was going to die right now.

He was just going to give in to the darkness, as a hand grabbed hold of his own and lifted him up. Gasping for breath he was pulled out of the water.

At first his vision was blurred and he could only make out swirling colors in front of him. Soon the colors stopped swirling and took their fixed place. Tenchi found himself staring into two golden eyes. Panic took him again and he wanted to scramble away, but Ryoko was still holding his hand, so he couldn't. Ryoko gave him a wicked grin and...

... he woke up screaming.

Even after his shout had died down he still needed a moment to figure out who and where he was. As he thought about it and his situation slowly sank in on him again, he realized that he had awakened from one nightmare only to find himself in another.

He didn't know how long he had slept, but a look at his watch showed him that it could have only been about four hours. So he was stranded in space for five hours now and there was still no help in sight.

The first hour after the fight Tenchi had used for personally checking the damage that had been done, only to find out that there was absolutely no way he could repair any of it by himself. Since his sub-space transmitter had failed too, the only thing he could do was to wait for help until the ships energy reserves were spent and after that to die as dignified as possible. He had about two days left so meanwhile he had lots of time to let his life pass over in front of his eyes one final time.

Tenchi sighed at his own sarcasm. He ran another sensor check, one of the few things he could still do, as his thoughts returned to his dream. He couldn't remember any details, but he knew that Ryoko had been in it. As if the pirate hadn't done enough damage to him, she even infiltrated his dreams. Tenchi was well aware that this hadn't been his first dream of this sort. At first it would actually seem to be a pleasant dream, then he would become terrified and it would get worse and worse until he finally woke up. He had this nightmares as long as he could remember, even long before he had met Ryoko for the first time, but ever since he had met her she had become a part of them. Tenchi only hoped that once he arrested his personal demon he would get rid of these dreams.

A change on the tactical screen showed Tenchi that the sensors had discovered something. The young man quickly checked it out and identified it as an approaching ship.

'Well, maybe the universe is not so cruel after all,' he thought as the view screen brought up the incoming ship for him to see. It was a Galaxy Police cruiser and not just anyone, Tenchi knew this ship quite well.

"The universe is cruel," he stated hanging his head.

"Patrol ship Yagami, this is the GP cruiser Hirazenty. Don't make any offensive moves or we will have to open fire."

Tenchi opened up a channel for himself. "Hirazenty, you will find my ship completely disabled. I'm stranded and I'm asking you for help."

There was no response.

Then a picture of a man in a command chair came up on the view screen.

Even if he had heard rumors about this, Tenchi was still a little surprised. Since he didn't know the man in front of him the dark haired boy assumed that Commander Redruo had actually taken his leave from the GP after the failure of operation Nagako two years ago. It was a shame, the Commander had been a very capable and decent man, if there was anyone who deserved to lead a fleet in the GP it was Redruo.

'Well, at least I wasn't the only one who lost his position back then,' Tenchi tried to comfort himself.

After the new Commander had given Tenchi the chance to properly interpret his entrance he spoke up. "And my help I will gladly grant you Mr. Masaki. However, I would appreciate it if you would do a little errand for me in return."

Tenchi became suspicious. What was this guy up to? He should have arrested him by now. Stealing a space ship and causing a mess wasn't one of the crimes the Galaxy Police tended to forget quickly.

"Who are you and what do you want?" he asked simply.

"I'm Trake, Detective Sergeant 1st class and Commander of the Hirazenty and I want to propose you a deal. I have information valuable for you and you have information valuable for me. I suppose we are going to exchange information and after that I will ask you my little favor. If you accept you will stay free for now, if not... well, for you are a wanted criminal I would have to arrest you."

Trake didn't seem to be the most trustworthy of persons. It would have been his duty to arrest Tenchi at the spot, but instead it seemed that he was trying to utilize him somehow. Anyway, Tenchi had to live with the circumstances and they were that he was much better off with Trake at the moment then with any other GP Officer.

"That doesn't leave me much choice, does it?"

"No, it doesn't, but believe me, you won't be disappointed with our deal."

"All right, so what do you want to know from me?" Tenchi asked with resignation in his voice.

A satisfied smile took it's place on Trake's face. "Now let's not rush this. I would prefer to discuss these matters." He looked from side to side... "... in a more private place."

Tenchi was a little taken aback. Even for a Commander it was still uncommon to talk to a wanted criminal like this in front of his crew. He had to be careful, Trake obviously had more influence then he had first suspected.

The Commander gave instructions to prepare for towing the Yagami and then returned his attention to Tenchi.

"There is a repair bay nearby. I happen to know a good bar there, a nice and quiet place. I would say we get your ship repaired there and in the meantime have a little talk. I'm looking forward to it and don't worry, I will cover your repair expenses." Trake was replaced by an outside view of the Hirazenty as he deactivated the com link.

Tenchi couldn't help but feel that the Commander was entirely too friendly. Trake was up to something and Tenchi didn't know what his place was in this scheme. He would just have to wait for their talk. He was curious about the information Trake had told him about and he soon caught himself hoping that it wouldn't take them too long to reach the repair bay.

* * *

The Souja slowly made her way through the dark sky of the even darker planet. Terenka had once been inhabited by an ancient civilization, now the only thing that remained from them were the decayed ruins of their cities. The atmosphere was contaminated by radiation that had been set free in their ultimate and last war. Not even the Juraians knew details about the ancient people of Terenka, because their disaster had happened thousands of years before Jurai had developed the ability of space travel by utilizing it's trees.

Nobody would ever claim or even want to visit the dead planet, first because the radiation was too strong for most creatures to withstand and second because it wouldn't be worth the effort to use expensive equipment to conquer the planet. The Terenkans had completely plundered it's biological and geological resources. It was a common assumption that this was the cause that had led to their horrible war.

After her little encounter with Tenchi, Ryoko had set a direct course for the ruined planet in order to meet up with a person who requested her service recently. Now she scanned the terrain below her with a look of concentration.

"It has to be somewhere around here," she told herself.

Eventually she found what she was searching for. A huge and totally plain plateau in the middle of a decayed city. It must have been some kind of air- or spaceport once.

The pirate directed the ship over and set it down on the plain ground. She teleported out even before the ship had finished the landing procedure, so that she could hear a low thump behind her as the Souja made contact with the ground.

Ryoko took in her surroundings and found that the city was deserted like it was supposed to be. It was most unlikely that someone else besides her and her customer would be on this planet right now. Terenka was the perfect meeting place for people who wanted to stay unnoticed.

It did not happen often that Ryoko was summoned to such a particularly unlively area. The person who wanted to meet her had to be a really big shot. Ryoko felt a bit of curiosity about his identity and the mission he would have for her.

The appointed meeting place was a little further away from the landing platform and so Ryoko flew off the plateau and started to make her way through the streets of the city.

She was one of the few creatures in the galaxy whose body could stand the radiation over an unlimited amount of time, so that she did not have to wear any protection clothes. In case there wasn't any, she was also able to survive without oxygen, so the little that remained in the atmosphere of the planet was more than enough for her.

The pirate couldn't help but remember, that it had been a planet much like this one where her life had taken it's beginning. She had awakened on a deserted and radiated ruin planet, in exactly the same physical and mental shape she was in now. That had been the start of her existence. She had had no way to tell if it had been hundreds or thousands of years that she had to stay there on her own. She had been alone all the time, the only living creature on the entire planet. Just the thought of it still managed to give her a chill. She had gone up into space for a few times, but only to find that she wasn't able to travel far from the planet on her own.

After what had seemed to be an eternity to her, a ship had made the mistake to land on her planet. Ryoko hadn't given them the chance to do what they had come for. She had boarded the ship the moment it entered the atmosphere, killed all the occupants and left her planetary prison for good. For the galaxy this had been the birth of the dreaded space pirate Ryoko.

Normally Ryoko wouldn't think much about her past, it wouldn't do her any good. She wasn't interested in who she was, as long as she was able to do everything she wanted to do, but these ruins had forced her to remember. And the memory was extremely unpleasant. In her mind she placed Terenka on the list of places she would try to avoid in the future. She couldn't stand this planet.

She turned around a corner and found some kind of market place stretched out in front of her. Returning to her feet, she walked the place over and soon came to the conclusion that her client hadn't arrived yet. She was about to take a seat on one of the bigger pieces of debris as she was almost startled to death.

"Hello, Miss Ryoko," sounded a calm female voice from behind her.

The space pirate whirled around, her energy sword ignited.

In front of her was standing a figure, hidden in a long dark cloak. She obviously wasn't wearing any protective gear either, but a globe of light with a faint blue glow surrounded her.

A Juraian force field.

* * *

Tenchi was walking the interior of the Castaway's Hangout. Somehow this place reminded him of the huge shopping malls that could be found on his adoptive home planet Arret. The small repair bay Trake had spoken of had turned out to be a meeting and business place for all kind of scum from all over the galaxy.

The corridor he was strolling down currently could only be described as overcrowded. Most of the creatures around Tenchi were not even human, but over the last two years Tenchi had grown familiar with such places. They were perfect for assembling information or just disappearing for a while if necessary.

Trake had been wise enough not to try docking at the station with the Hirazenty. If he had barged in here with a GP cruiser, the corridor around Tenchi would have probably been considerable less crowded.

The Commander had stopped his ship out of range of the station and had dragged the Yagami the rest of the way with a shabby landing shuttle, that did look suspicious enough for the means of the place.

Tenchi had known from experience that he wouldn't draw any attention for himself, because the GP usually had their own repair hangars and if a damaged patroller sought the service of a place like the Castaway's Hangout, it was probably stolen or involved in some other illegal business, like it was actually the case for Tenchi.

Just before docking Trake had contacted him one more time and told him to meet him in a bar called the Ancient Wreckage. After that they had split up because Tenchi had been docked in the repair hangar.

He had been quite surprised that just mentioning Trake's name had been enough to get the suspicious creatures, that were the technicians of the station, to work on his ship and assure him that they would do their very best to get it finished in only a couple of hours.

After that Tenchi had started to make his way to the Ancient Wreckage, but unfortunately he had missed to ask Trake for directions, because from the outer impression he hadn't expected the place to be that huge.

Now he was searching for the bar for about half an hour and the worst of it was that he couldn't even remember where he had already been. The shopping stalls around him seemed to change all the time. By now he probably wouldn't have been able to find back to the repair hangar anymore.

Of course he had tried asking some of the most human looking creatures, but as it was the nature of such places people were not very friendly if one did not present them some money and Tenchi had no intention on spending money only to find a bar.

As he walked down another corridor, someone suddenly grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him to the side roughly. Tenchi turned his head to see what this was about and realized his mistake. He had been so deep in thought that he had come to close to one of the stalls and the occupant had literally taken the opportunity.

It was a relatively small creature with deep blue skin that had a trunk instead of a nose. Knowing that doing business with such guys was usually a very bad thing Tenchi was about to just ignore him and resume his search, but the creature wouldn't let go his arm. Before Tenchi could tell him that he wouldn't buy anything, the salesman spoke up.

"You're passing by here for the third time. You must be hungry. Why don't you buy anything from me?" Except from the unpleasant high voice and the importunate choice of words the creature spoke without any recognizable accent.

He pointed at a collection of things beneath him that had a vague resemblance to what Tenchi knew as sandwiches. Maybe this was a good chance to get to know about the location of the Ancient Wreckage.

As Tenchi finally turned his attention to the salesman, he let go off his arm, glad to have awakened this customers interest.

"Actually, I would rather want some information," the dark haired boy told the salesman casually.

"I can't give you any information. You have to buy something first," the creature squeaked.

Tenchi had somewhat awaited this reaction, but in fact the guy was right, he really was hungry. He hadn't eaten anything in almost an entire day now.

Carefully he examined the sandwiches before him more closely. There was no way to tell what was in between them, but then again, maybe it was better not to know.

Tenchi mustered up all his courage and said, "I take one of these," pointing at the least suspicious looking ones.

The salesman nodded and handed it to him.

"How do you pay?" he asked, as his customer took the sandwich.

Tenchi couldn't figure out the meaning of the question at first, but after a moment of staring at the guy with incomprehension it came to him. Of course the stores in places like the Castaway's Hangout had no fixed prices and they took almost all currencies because of the many different origins of the visitors. Tenchi inwardly cursed. He only had some Jurai, which was the strongest available currency. He was going to make a bad deal.

"Do you take Jurai?" he asked.

"Oh, but of course," the creature sang with what must have been his understanding of a smile. "It will be fifty then."

Tenchi took out his wallet, keeping a firm grip on it, in case there was anyone else that had overheard their conversation and had grown interested in just how many Jurai he was carrying around. He handed the money to the salesman, not trying to hide his dissatisfaction with the price. It wasn't too bad, but it was still far from a fair deal.

"Thank you. What do you want to know?" At least he hadn't forgotten about the information Tenchi sought.

"I'm searching for a bar called the Ancient Wreckage," Tenchi told him.

"Why haven't you asked earlier. I can help you. You will find it over there," came the response of the creature, almost as if he had awaited the question.

Tenchi followed the gaze of the salesman and the sandwich almost slipped out of his suddenly weary fingers.

There was the bar he had been searching for all the time, only a little further down the corridor from their current position. It was simply impossible that he hadn't seen it before. The name of the place was written over the entrance in big fancy letters. If the store keeper was right, Tenchi must have even walked by it before without noticing.

"Thanks," the dark haired boy mumbled, still unable to understand what was going on and left into the direction of the bar.

As he pushed his way through the crowd, he remembered the sandwich in his hands. He eyed it suspiciously and considered opening the two halves, to see what was inside. But finally he decided against it, he had paid for this stuff, so he was going to eat it anyway and apart from that he was starving.

He shrugged and took a bite. At first the flavor actually seemed to be quite interesting, but as he started to feel an unpleasant tingling movement in is mouth Tenchi hurried to swallow the bite he was chewing on. After that he didn't even dare looking at the sandwich in his hands anymore while finishing it up.

Soon he reached the bar and entered without hesitation. The place was so dark and foggy, that Tenchi couldn't make out anything at first. As his eyes accustomed to the dim light, he found that the bar actually had the design of an old wooden sea ship. Through the many portholes in the walls, the vastness of space could be seen. The actual bar was circular in the middle of the room, with a few stools around it. In the middle a small stocky barkeeper was busy preparing drinks for his customers. Some crude tables with chairs were scattered over the rest of the bar and about half of them were occupied by what one would call suspicious characters.

After a moment of taking in his surroundings Tenchi started for the bar, in order to not draw too much attention by standing around staring. He only needed to make a couple of steps until he found what he was searching for. Halfway around the bar from the entrance was sitting Trake, sipping a drink. Tenchi quickened his pace and finally took a seat beside the Commander.

For a moment there was silence, because neither one of the two men bothered to speak up.

"How about a drink?" Trake finally asked without looking up from his own.

"No thanks," Tenchi replied nonchalantly.

He had never been one to care much about alcohol and besides he would need to keep his mind focussed in the upcoming conversation.

"I remember during my time in the Galaxy Police, drinking in duty was prohibited," he added, trying to get to know what the Commander's attitude to the GP really was.

Trake finally turned to face Tenchi.

"Right now, I'm not in duty. This is a private meeting Mr. Masaki, or may I call you Tenchi?"

Not dignifying his question with an answer, Tenchi reminded himself to stay careful while talking to Trake, the Commander seemed to be quite shrewd.

"So what is it that you want me to do?" Tenchi asked straight away.

The Commander downed the rest of his drink in one gulp before answering. The barkeeper immediately came over and refilled the cup after Trake had placed it in front of him.

"As I told you before Tenchi, this is not going to be a one-sided business. The assignment I have for you will be to your own advantage too. But before I can tell you about this you will have to give me some information," Trake explained the little game they were going to be playing.

Tenchi noticed that the Commander seemed to enjoy observing the effect of his own words, because he made a short pause to watch Tenchi before continuing.

"You sure you don't want a drink? You may need it while telling about the stuff I'm going to ask you about," the Commander asked again, only to raise Tenchi's tension up a few notches.

"Go on," was Tenchi's only answer.

Trake sighed and shrugged. "All right, I just wanted to make this as easy on you as possible."

He took a sip from his refilled cup while Tenchi was slowly losing his patience. Obviously Trake was trying to provoke him with his behavior, probably in order to get more information out of him when it finally came down to the real talk.

"I can neither tell you anything nor am I going to become upset if you don't tell me what you want to know from me," Tenchi said, still able to keep up his calm and friendly nature.

"I guess you are right. Let's get to business. I want you to tell me what happened two years ago."

Tenchi didn't manage to keep a straight face at that. Of course he knew instantly what the Commander was talking about. The failure of operation Nagako and the beginning of his exile. But why did he want to know about this, as much as Tenchi knew it had not been a secret operation, there had to be plenty of info about it in the databanks of the GP.

He expressed his confusion about Trake's request in a question.

The Commander made a dismissive gesture with his hand. "I'm not interested in the official GP version. We both know that this is a load of crap. Tell me what really happened back then, I need to know every detail of it."

By now Tenchi was confused and suspicious at the same time. He knew that somehow his actions had been mistaken back then, but he hadn't expected others to know about it. What was going on here?

"Why would you want to know about this?" Tenchi asked the obvious.

Trake gave him a inexplicable look. "Sorry, but I can't tell you that. Let's just say I'm interested in your story for now."

This reminded Tenchi that Trake was the one to set the rules for this game. He had no choice but to play along and besides there was nothing that spoke against telling the story to Trake, he would just have to leave out the embarrassing details.

"All right, I will tell you about it," Tenchi acknowledged.

Trake gave him a satisfied smile. "Very well then. But please remember, do not leave out any details."

Tenchi groaned slightly and began to tell the story of the happenings that changed his live so drastically two years ago.

The story of his first encounter with Ryoko.

* * *

The Commander clenched his teeth as he tried to stare a hole in the huge view screen of the Hirazenty. Everything was in perfect order, every ship had taken it's specified position. The third patrol ship fleet was ready. The trap was set up.

"So why the hell aren't they showing up?" he suddenly burst out, crashing his fist down on the armrest of his command chair.

A second later he was the center of attention on the bridge of the flagship. The eyes of his men were directed at him, but none of them knew how to react on his sudden eruption, so they just kept staring at him expectantly.

Commander Redruo began scratching the back of his head with an embarrassed grin on his face.

"Sorry, the situation got a hold of me. Go on with the scans."

The crew of the Hirazenty knew that their Commander could be a little short tempered from time to time, but that was also why they liked him, it made him more human then most other Commanders and apart from that he never let his emotions lead himself to making a mistake in a really dangerous situation.

Redruo had completely regained his composure, he knew that the sources they had gotten the information from were reliable. Some criminals thought that the Galaxy Police was just an apparatus of patrolling Officers. They would have been surprised if they found out about some particular connections the GP had into the their networks. He had to stay patient, maybe something had delayed them, but they would eventually pass through this sector. There was no way for them to know about this set up.

"Sir, we have spotted three ships with course for the Dendos system!" the sensor Officer reported.

"It's them," the Commander murmured more to himself. Aloud he said, "All right, commence operation Nagako. Inform all ships, the targets have arrived."

The operation was carefully planned. Only one third of the fleet was blocking the way of the pirates directly together with the Hirazenty. The other two thirds had taken positions on either side of the pirates' path with their systems almost completely shut down, so that they were practically invisible. Once the pirates had passed them they would come to life and trap them in a kind of a huge triangle in space.

The set up was perfect, Redruo intended to put an end to the infamous gangster trio that had roamed the galaxy for so long now.

* * *

Inside another ship another man was watching his screen as intently as the Commander, if not more. A look of excited anticipation could be found on the face of Tenchi Masaki. The young Officer and pilot of the patrol ship Yagami still couldn't believe that he was actually participating in this daring operation.

'The dreaded gangster trio,' Tenchi thought with a shiver.

Every one of the three alone was said to be more dangerous and powerful then all the other pirates of the galaxy together.

There was Nagi, the former bounty hunter, who had grown dissatisfied with her job because it did not pay enough. Only few had met her and survived the encounter in order to tell about it. Her ship, the Kenryo, wasn't the most powerful one, but she compensated this with incredible skill in handling it.

Then there was Kagato, the most mysterious one of the trio. Not much was known about his past. The powers he used in combat were similar to that of Jurai, so the rumor had spread that he was a distant member of the Royal Family, who had decided to negate his origin. His skill with the light sword matched that of the best swordsmen of Jurai and his ship, the Soto-oh, had the reputation to be invincible.

Finally there was Ryoko, the powerful space pirate who wreaked havoc on the galaxy for about 500 years now. Never had anyone even come close to catching her in this time. Some kept referring to her as demon, because of her wild and unpredictable nature in combat and her unrivalled power and strength. Her ship, the Souja, was definitely the most dangerous one of the three. It was said to be equal to a Juraian warship in offensive and defensive capability and if it wasn't for the Hirazenty, one of the most advanced cruisers of the galaxy police, the Souja would probably be able to crush this whole ambush all by herself.

Tenchi was well aware of the dangers this mission held. Especially the small patrol ships like the Yagami, would have to stay careful if it came down to combat. Of course it would be the best thing if the pirates just surrendered to their superior number, but considering their profiles this was more than unlikely. Still, the operation was worth the risk, if they succeeded in capturing the pirates, the third fleet would acquire hero status and not only within the Galaxy Police. However, Tenchi was not interested in becoming a hero, he only wanted to help freeing the galaxy from those pirates.

While his mind ran through uncounted possible variations of the events which were about to unfold, Tenchi kept his gaze at the screen. He could barely make out the other GP ships with their energy and light output dimmed to a minimum, but he knew they were there and this wisdom was an advantage the pirates did not possess.

With every passing minute the tension inside the dark haired boy kept building up. The poor emergency lighting only added effect to the apprehension of incoming danger. Tenchi would have gladly given away all the wealth of the universe for the chance of running a sensor check now, but he was not allowed to. The risk of the energy output giving them away would be too great. He could do nothing but wait for the message that the operation was about to start and meanwhile try to make out the pirate ships with his bare eyes.

As the pirate ships actually showed up on his screen, Tenchi thought he was imagining things. He had not really expected them to be visible, but little did he know of what sights were awaiting him.

At first they were nothing but small dots of light in the distance, which only differed from the stars around them by their movement. But they approached at full speed and soon Tenchi was able to make out their form more clearly. As they drew closer and closer Tenchi became a little nervous as he started to get the impression that they were headed directly for him.

Finally the ships came so close that the young Officer feared they would be able to detect him somehow, but as they passed by him all thoughts were wiped from his mind and he could only stare in awe.

With the litheness of an eagle the Souja crossed through space. The wings on both sides of the trunk added to the impression and gave the ship an aura of strength and force that made Tenchi doubt the success of their mission.

One fleeting look was enough to see that the Souja really was provided with an immense weaponry. Uncounted beamcannons, blaster and plasma guns adorned the front side and the flanks seemed to bear some backup weapons too. The ship's aggressive red coloring perfected the association with a bird of prey, elegant to look at, but still lethal. Majestically the Souja passed him by. Her back presented a much less impressive view. Now Ryoko's ship reminded him more of one of those friendly shell-lizards, he had watched so often as a little boy on Arret. But Tenchi had no time to think about the function of the strange symmetric knobs at the Souja's back anymore as Kagato's ship entered his field of vision.

His jaw almost dropped at the sight. The ship was definitely Juraian in design and therefore it was impossible to compare it with the Souja. While Ryoko's ship resembled common shapes, the Soto-oh had the unique and exotic appearance only Juraians could present in their ships. Rumor had it that the Soto-oh was actually a real tree-ship, if that was true they would have a hard time dealing with it. The ship itself draw it's elegant and graceful look from the carefully carved components, which were bounded together by arched strings of darker wood, that at the same time gave it a somewhat restless nature. The main parts of the wooden ship were in a brighter color, but still the Soto-oh made an unpredictable and dangerous impression. Even if it was only about half as big as the Souja, Tenchi could feel that it would be a fatal mistake to take Kagato's ship too lightly.

The Kenryo rushed by the Soto-oh so fast, that Tenchi only got a glimpse of her outline before she vanished into the shadow of the huge Souja. The small ship was obviously constructed with agility as a strong point, rather than weaponry like the Souja. Two smoothly curved crests extended vertically from either side of the main body and gave the ship a streamlined appearance. Horizontally it was equipped with two simple wings featuring plasma guns. In all the Kenryo was roughly the size of an ordinary Galaxy Police patrol ship.

It was then that Tenchi realized how the trio had made it's reputation. While each one of the ships was already a nightmare of it's own for the one who dared to challenge it, all three together added to the perfect combination. Power, defense and agility. The space pirate trio of Ryoko, Kagato and Nagi.

Tenchi found himself staring wide eyed as they had long since passed by and were already approaching the area lit by the unit of the Hirazenty. He snapped out of it, by now the pirates had for sure discovered the fleet waiting for them and they were probably asked to surrender right now. It couldn't be long anymore.

A beeping sound was heard, the first noise that disturbed the silence of the shut down space ship. Even if he had been prepared, it still managed to startle Tenchi out of his skin. Nevertheless, he knew it's meaning all to well.

This was the signal. The operation was about to begin.

* * *

"They have reached their final position and stopped, sir," the Commander was informed.

"Very well, this is working out perfectly. I guess we should not let our guests wait. Hail them," Redruo ordered.

Actually he was not in the least as confident as he tried to appear. He knew that these pirates were powerful enough to keep up with his unit. They didn't know that he represented only one third of the fleet, so he wondered why they did not try to blast their way through right away. They seemed to be more cautious then he had thought, this would complicate matters.

The image of a green haired man with sharp facial features appeared on the screen. It was hard to describe, but even if it was only a transmission, Redruo could still feel the air of nobility surrounding this person, as could the entire crew, because some of them stopped doing their tasks and just stared at the man. Kagato had made quite an entrance.

"I hope you don't think your pathetic excuse of a fleet will be able to stop us," the pirate spoke up.

Some crew members cringed at the sound of his voice, but a glance from the Commander made them resume their activities.

"Rest assured, that I know my unit will not be able to stop you..." Kagato didn't succeed in hiding his confusion at Redruo's words completely, but before he could speak up the Commander continued, "...however, my fleet should be more than a match for you."

He made a gesture with his hand and the rest of the third fleet came to live behind the pirates. This time Kagato lost his composure and his face distorted in pure hatred.

"A trap," he spat out in disgust.

Commander Redruo smiled at the reaction he had gotten out of the proud pirate. "Let's skip the small talk and get down to business. I order you to surrender right now and prepare for boarding or else we will have to open fire."

Kagato was replaced by the image of a blue haired woman with burning dark red eyes.

"You don't expect us to give up that easily, do you?" Nagi asked.

Redruo sighed considering the unavoidable confrontation. "No, I guess I do not, but I hoped you would," he said not trying to hide his apprehension for the upcoming battle.

Again the image on the screen changed, this time to make place for a widely grinning cyan haired woman.

"Why not just cut the crap and show us what you've got!"

With that Ryoko deactivated the com link and hell broke lose around the Hirazenty.

* * *

The bridge systems of the Yagami came to life with a hum. Tenchi watched the dead ships on the screen lighting up one after another and somehow it made him feel great to be a part of this. They were not the first ones who tried to put an end to the pirate trio, but they were the first ones who did it in such an impressive manner. This was the moment it would be decided, the battle could start every second now.

Tenchi immediately checked the ships systems and found that he had done a good job preparing the Yagami for this mission. Everything was in perfect order and the power output of the engines was even higher then it was before he had shut them down.

"So the ship is excited about this too," Tenchi laughed to himself.

That was when the battle begun. Without warning the Souja opened fire on the Hirazenty unit and Tenchi could observe one of the unfortunate smaller patrol ships, which were in the way of the attack being badly damaged and blowing up the next instant. This was going to get real ugly.

"Okay, let's give the Hirazenty a hand there. Move out," came the voice of the right wing unit's commanding Officer.

The right and left wing unit of the third Galaxy Police patrol ship fleet simultaneously started to make their way to the main battle field, where the pirates were already engaged in combat with the Hirazenty unit. Only a few more minutes and they would join the battle.

* * *

"Sir, we have lost the Medea!" the Hirazenty's tactical officer reported.

The Commander crushed his fist on the armrest one more time. "How the hell could that happen!" he shouted in anger.

"The weapons of the Souja are more powerful than we expected, sir. Our patrol ships are no match for her," the officer explained in an apologetic way.

Redruo stood up from his chair, a determined look on his face. "Very well then. So we have to take her on by ourselves. Tell the other ships to take care of the Soto-oh and Kenryo, they are to avoid the Souja, and then blast that damned thing to hell!"

The Officers did as they were ordered.

* * *

On board the Souja Ryoko decided that the ship she just blasted away had blown up entirely too easily.

"That's pathetic. How are they supposed to capture us if they crumble by the slightest touch?" she asked herself.

It was than that the Hirazenty opened fire at her with all means. Ryoko hadn't expected the cruiser to participate in the action so quickly and she wasn't able to dodge the first blasts anymore.

The ship vibrated slightly as the attack was absorbed into the Souja's shields.

"Now that's more like it."

The pirate decided that the cruiser would provide a good challenge and started dodging it's still incoming blasts, as she returned fire. Between her wild maneuvers she barely found the time to hail her fellow pirates.

"Hey guys, I'm going to enjoy a few rounds with this thingy here. How about keeping the bugs off my ass?" she asked.

* * *

The Soto-oh was locked in a fire fight with two patrol ships, but Kagato's shields proved to be a lot more than the ships could handle and that even without him channelling his Jurai powers to strengthen them.

He received a transmission from Ryoko, who seemed to be occupied with the heavy cruiser.

"If you can keep the cruiser's attention this is fine by me. We will have our hands full when the rest of the fleet arrives any moment," he replied.

Right now they had the advantage, even if the patrol ships were superior in number, they couldn't keep up with their enhanced vessels. However, Kagato had checked up on the rest of the fleet and found that it consisted of twelve more ships, which would join the battle soon. Very soon indeed.

Together with Ryoko, he knew they would have been able to handle even those, but she had her hands full with that cruiser.

While searching for a way to improve the situation, he got a hit in on one of the ships that kept blasting away at him, but his ship was constructed with focus on defense, so his weapons weren't able to deal any major damage. Then an idea occurred to him.

* * *

"These guys sure are persistent," Nagi told herself as she tried to shake off two more ships with daring maneuvers.

At the moment everything seemed to work out fine for them. Ryoko had her fun with the cruiser, Kagato seemed to do quite well against the ships that were engaging him and she was taking on the remaining two ships. The only problem was, that they were dealing only with one third of the entire fleet and that would change in a few seconds.

"Nagi, how about you take your two new friends there and leave for a little trip with them?" Kagato's voice asked over a com link.

Nagi frowned at the apparently pointless request. "You want me to lure them away? Maybe you are forgetting that we are surrounded here," she told Kagato while doing a roll in order to avoid a bunch of laser blasts from the two ships following her.

"Actually I'm well aware of our situation and that's exactly why I want you to leave. Try to intercept a few of the ships closing in on us, it won't help if we have them all around us here," Kagato explained.

A laser blast rocked Nagi's ship and it took her a moment to regain her footing and return fire before she could answer Kagato.

"I figure you want me to go on a suicide mission. There is absolutely no way I can keep up with so many ships," she accused her fellow pirate.

"There is not much time left and you are the only one of us fast enough to do it. Believe me, this will work out quite well," Kagato said with urgency in his voice.

Nagi was about to counter one more time as she thought better of it. He was right, they couldn't take on the entire fleet and the cruiser at once. However if they managed to scatter them at least a little and take them on one by one, they might still stand a chance.

"All right you arrogant bastard, you have won. I will see what I can do," Nagi gave in to Kagato.

After she had skillfully avoided a few more blasts and fired her own weapons again without doing any major damage, the pirate spun her ship around and urged the engines to the maximum. With the two patrol ships still in tow, she approached the right part of the incoming fleet at an incredible speed.

* * *

The Commander's face was a stoic mask, but inside he was seething with rage. This whole operation was turning out to be even more difficult and risky than he had expected it to be. And he had expected it to be extremely difficult.

"Sir, we can't go on like this forever. Our shields are already losing capacity," Redruo was told what he already knew by his tactical Officer.

Especially the Souja was becoming more of a nuisance than he had expected. The pirate was a lot more agile than the huge Hirazenty, because of her lower mass. While they weren't able to get a lock on her, they had no way to avoid her counter fire, which put quite a strain on the shields of the cruiser. The most disturbing fact however, was that the few blasts they got in on her seemed to do no damage at all. The Souja's shields were stronger than they were supposed to be for a ship of that size.

Redruo realized that he should have been better prepared for this operation. His lack of information could lead the entire third fleet into disaster. If the Hirazenty couldn't stop Ryoko, nobody could. But the GP cruiser was still far from defeated and Redruo was going to give the space pirate one hell of a time.

"Channel all available energy from the sub-systems into the weapons and deliver a broadside against her," the Commander ordered. "Let's see how she will dodge this," he added with a smile.

The next moment a powerful barrage of plasma fire left the many board cannons of the Hirazenty and covered the Souja in a deadly rain. However the Commander had no time to savor his small victory.

"Sir, the Kenryo has taken a direct course for our right wing unit and two of our ships are following her," an obviously confused tactical officer reported.

"Damn, these fools!" the Commander shouted while crushing his fist, like it was his habit. "We need the ships here. How long until the wing units arrive?" he asked still infuriated.

"One minute, sir."

"Contact those two idiots and the right wing, they are to take on the Kenryo with three ships, that should suffice, the rest shall give us a hand with the Soto-oh here."

As if to emphasize his words, this instant Kagato managed to destroy one of the ships that were engaging him.

"Shit," the Commander cursed.

* * *

Tenchi could see the battle already waging fiercely around the Hirazenty. In about one minute the Yagami and five other ships would arrive there, only to be joined by the six ships of the left wing. He was pretty sure that the odds of battle would change to their advantage then.

But still, the view of the combat in front of him filled him with mixed emotions. Although he knew that there probably was no other way, now that it had started the fighting somehow seemed more wrong to him than ever. Fighting was never a solution, it only resulted in pain and sometimes even death.

He could see another patrol ship blowing up and closed his eyes. No, this was not right, but there was no way to stop the things that had been set in motion. The only thing that was left to do for him now, was to fulfill his duty as a GP Officer and join in the fight against the pirates.

"Attention all patrol ships! The Kenryo has set a course to intercept the right wing. Contact will be made in a few seconds. The Nugimo, Betras and Yagami will take on the pirate. All other ships are ordered to join the Hirazenty unit," the voice of the Hirazenty's communication Officer could be heard.

Now that was a surprise. Tenchi would have to battle the infamous Nagi together with only two other ships. He wasn't sure if this increased his chances of survival or lowered them. However he had not much time to think about it, because the next moment the Kenryo appeared in front of him out of nowhere and opened fire. By instincts he never knew he had, he made the Yagami dodge away under the blasts and the incoming ship without taking any damage.

"Whew, that was close," Tenchi huffed.

Two more ships passed over him with high speed, but as soon as Nagi was surrounded by the ships of the right wing, they turned and made their way back to the main unit together with three more ships. Only Nagi, Tenchi and two other ships were left.

It was a strange situation. As the rest of the ships had left, they had to cease fire because of the commotion and now the three patrol ships were holding their positions with Nagi in the center between them, unmoving. Neither one dared to reopen fire and with that to start the battle. If the terms of sound had existed in space, one would describe the situation with deafening silence of anticipation. It was the calm before the storm.

As the tension was starting to become unbearable, one of the patrol ships opened fire and the battle continued once again...

* * *

Tenchi had been so engrossed in his story, that he hadn't noticed the bar around him going unusually quiet. As he made a break to refocus his thoughts he realized that there wasn't a single conversation going on anymore. He started to feel uncomfortable.

After a moment of embarrassing silence the people in the bar became aware that he wasn't going on and resumed their personal chatter.

"You certainly know how to make it interesting," Trake commented with a grin. "However, up to this point it matches the official version. So you were about to fight Nagi, right? I guess we are getting closer to the point, tell me what happened. How exactly did the fight go?" the Commander urged.

Tenchi reminded himself to speak more quietly from now on. He didn't like the attention at all. Of course he knew that among criminals as well as GPs the operation Nagako was some kind of legend. After only two years it had already made history. But Tenchi doubted that the end of his story was common knowledge and he really wanted it to stay that way. Hopefully Trake would be satisfied with the story of the space battle itself.

"At first we didn't fare all too well," Tenchi continued in a low voice that was almost a whisper. "But then...

* * *

Kagato patiently watched the eleven ships closing in on him, the Hirazenty and the Souja. He had managed to destroy the single patrol ship that remained around the GP cruiser and had been about to join Ryoko in her fight against the battleship. Together they would have had an even better chance of defeating this monster of a ship, but now with the arrival of the rest of the fleet the odds of battle would turn against them.

In fact it was only the GPs surprise about their fierce resistance that had helped them to keep the upper hand so far. Only a couple of minutes could have passed since the battle had started and now that their element of surprise was fading, they would get in real trouble.

At least his plan of scattering the enemy fleet, had worked out partially. Even if he wasn't sure if his fellow pirate would have been able to handle them, he had hoped for a few more GPs to stay with Nagi.

Kagato knew that his chances against the superior number of ships out there were slim, if not equal to zero. He could not count on Ryoko either, because her fight with the cruiser seemed to be far from over. In fact Kagato even had his doubts that the Souja would be the victor in this trail of strength at all. He was well aware that Ryoko was far more than what could be described with the word good, but she sometimes tended to rely too much on her superior technology and from what Kagato was able to catch of the battle, the enemy Commander seemed to be quite clever.

"Let's see if it's really going to end like this after all."

The proud pirate was the last person who would give himself up, even if the situation was worse than hopeless, but unlike many others he always considered defeat a possibility and if it was going to catch up with him one time, he would at least retain his dignity. Kagato closed his eyes and concentrated.

'There is no use in holding back anymore,' he thought as he accessed his Jurai power.

His mind reached out to the core of his ship, that was a Juraian space tree. The spiritual powers from deep within the pirate melted with the living soul of the ship and they became one.

The patrol ships came into weapon range and opened fire at the Soto-oh all together.

It was this second that Kagato's eyes snapped open and the shield of his ship began emitting a barely visible pale blue glow.

A deadly barrage of plasma bolts, which would have been enough to rip a normal ship apart instantly, made contact with the strengthened shield of the Soto-oh.

Kagato groaned. He was now one with his ship in spirit and the Soto-oh's pain was also his pain, but he managed to keep the shield up, even as the GPs kept blasting away at him.

The pirate forced back his agony as well as he could and concentrated even more. Finally, with an ear splitting scream, he concentrated some of his power into the weapons and fired a single blast.

The blast hit one of the patrol ships surrounding the Soto-oh and passed right through it. Time seemed to freeze for a moment before the GP ship finally exploded.

Becoming more cautious at this demonstration of new found power from the space pirate the remaining ten ships ceased fire and started to form a more defensive line up.

Kagato was pretty confident that they wouldn't underestimate him again and that meant that he was going to go down eventually. Firing this powered up blast had cost him a lot of his energy. He wouldn't be able to keep the shield up for long if they attacked again. If he wanted to survive the next seconds he needed some kind of cover against their fire. It was then that an idea entered his mind.

Before the GPs had a chance to attack again, the Soto-oh turned and sped off for the cruiser, which was still doing battle nearby. The police ships took up pursuit and tried to stop him with plasma fire.

Kagato tried to avoid as much of it as possible, but some of the blasts found their mark anyway. Still, even if holding off the combined attacks of the ten ships gave Kagato and the Soto-oh pain beyond comparison, they managed to keep up the shield with their combined powers.

Finally after what seemed like hours to the pirate, but was in fact only seconds, he reached the cruiser. The huge ship was moving so slowly, that it almost seemed to have it's fixed place in space. This was just perfect for Kagato's plan.

The GPs still in tow, he approached the battleship almost to the point of collision, but in the last moment he corrected his course and passed over the hull of the cruiser as close as was possible without taking damage. The board cannons instantly started blasting away at him, but he managed to dodge most of the fire. He noticed that his plan was working out as one of the GPs behind him was hit by a powerful blast that was originally meant for him.

'If there are too much enemies just make them fight themselves,' the pirate thought at the sight of the exploding ship.

The remaining GPs had their problems too, because they now had to put up with Kagato's fire and they had to be careful not to be hit by their flagship accidentally. On top of that, they had to watch not to harm the cruiser with their own blasts.

Kagato's superior combat experience was paying off now. Although it required all of his skill, he did quite well in avoiding the blasts of the cruiser and the GPs behind him and redirecting them at each other as well as he could. At the same time he used the chance and dealt quite an amount of damage to the cruiser.

Another ship exploded behind him and as he had expected a call from Ryoko came in.

"What is this shit? You're spoiling my fun, get outta here!" came her annoyed voice.

"Never mind me, I'm just trying to take care of my own business," Kagato replied.

Ryoko muttered something unintelligible and broke the contact.

The pain as a powerful blast of the cruiser almost penetrated his shield and another explosion behind him made Kagato concentrate on the matters at hand again and he continued to pass over the GP battleship in daring maneuvers.

* * *

The Yagami, Nugimo and Betras were on Nagi's tail and kept blasting away at her with all they had got. But by defying all rules of physics the pirate managed to stay unharmed, while she tried to shake them off.

A part of Tenchi's mind still could not believe that he was doing what the majority of all GP officers would consider a straight way of committing suicide. Of course he seemed to be a lot better off than he would have been if he got locked in combat with the more powerful ships of Kagato or Ryoko, but Nagi and the Kenryo still had a reputation inside the GP.

Tenchi himself had never taken part in actual combat before, but the operation of the Yagami seemed to come natural to him. At the GP academy he was even told that his skill was above-average. But the young officer wasn't one to get overconfident with himself, he was pretty sure that Nagi still had some tricks in store for them.

However, the pilots of the Betras and the Nugimo seemed to be not bad either. The battle was already going on for some minutes now and most of the time they were chasing the Kenryo around. They didn't seem to be able to get a hit in on her, but she barely had any chance to do any offensive maneuvers for herself, other than sending an occasional blast at them here and there.

Tenchi fired one more time, but the Kenryo flipped to the right the last instant and avoided the attack together with two more from the Nugimo.

Suddenly the Kenryo came to a full stop. Nagi's ship didn't slow down beforehand, like it would have been normal and predictable, it just halted from one second to the next.

Before the three patrol ship pilots could even realize what had hit them, they had already passed Nagi's unmoving ship.

The pilot of the Nugimo was the most unfortunate one of them, because it was him whom the pirate chose as her target and it was his ship that exploded in a ball of fire after she was finished with it.

The situation was reversed instantly. Now the two remaining patrol ships were followed and taken under fire by the pirate.

"That's not good at all," Tenchi said to himself as he realized that he seemed to be the main focus of the pirate's attention for now.

But in spite of the Yagami's considerable limitations in maneuverability Tenchi somehow managed to hold himself. Although he knew that unlike the pirate he couldn't keep that up forever.

The pilot of the Betras seemed to notice that Nagi began concentrating more and more on the Yagami and used the chance to risk an arc to the left in order to get in the back of the Kenryo again.

Actually by then the pirate was to occupied with chasing down Tenchi to do anything about it and soon the Kenryo, which followed the Yagami, was followed by the Betras again.

It was a hilarious scene. While the Kenryo was unable to get a good shot at the wildly dodging Yagami, the Betras' blasts hit only the vacuum of space too.

Neither of the three battling ships seemed to be able to gain the advantage, but Tenchi was aware that he was in the worst position of them all. Trying to avoid receiving major damage required all of the young officer's concentration. He had no time to aim his counter fire well and even if he would have had, there seemed to be no way to get a hit on the pirate with common plasma fire. Unfortunately, common plasma cannons were the only weaponry of a standard Galaxy Police patrol ship.

The ship rocked and sparks started flying from some of the bridge systems as the shields of the Yagami had to fend of an attack from the Kenryo. Tenchi absentmindedly checked the damage and was relieved that the energy feedback hadn't done harm to any vital systems.

If he wanted to survive the next few seconds he needed to lose the pirate somehow, but he had no idea how he should do that. He couldn't shake her off, because her ship was much more nimble than his and even the cover fire from the Betras did not do him any good.

'An areal weapon would be great now, but where to take one from?' Tenchi thought.

Then it hit him. He did not have the necessary weaponry, so the only thing he could do was to create it by himself.

Still trying to keep his focus on the incoming attacks, Tenchi accessed the control for the Yagami's escape pod and activated the automatic. If he could cause a little diversion, perhaps it would be enough to give the Betras a clear shot at Nagi and there was nothing better than a huge explosion for that purpose.

The pod left the ship and started drifting in space. For a moment Tenchi ignored his defense in order to get a lock on the pod with his weapons. As a result the ship was hit again and threatening red lights started flashing around Tenchi on the bridge of the Yagami, but he paid no attention. The right timing was all that counted now, if he screwed this up he wouldn't get another chance.

The Kenryo was just about to pass by the pod as Tenchi fired a single blast. It hit the small capsule right on and caused it to explode forcefully. The space pirate was already too close to avoid the explosion and was completely enveloped in it.

Although the shields of the Kenryo protected the pirate from serious damage, all her systems were blinded for a second by the sudden energy output around them. This second was all the pilot of the Betras needed to make her shields break down with a barrage of plasma fire and to finally get a hit in on her rear, disabling her main reactor.

"We did it," Tenchi stated in a toneless voice. He could not believe that they had just defeated Nagi the feared space pirate.

After another moment of being unable to move, because of the shock of his own success he finally stopped the wild flight of the Yagami and began checking for damage. Meanwhile he also tried to analyze the status of the enemy ship, that was now visible on the view screen in all it's remaining glory.

The computer told him that he had almost no energy left for the shields, but the main reactor had already started recharging. Tenchi shuddered. If the battle had lasted only an instant longer, the Yagami would be floating in space now, turned into debris.

The energy feedback had also shut down all communication systems. The short range communication and the sub-space transmission system. He was deaf and dumb.

Otherwise he was surprisingly well off. Expect from a little over heating, because he had spurred them too much, the engines were performing as well as when the battle had started and his weapons were still fully functional.

The Kenryo however seemed to be off worse for the wear. Not only it's main engines were down, but the weapons and shields as well. The Betras had done quite a job on the pirate's ship. Tenchi wanted to congratulate the pilot, but unfortunately he had no way to do that with his com down beyond repair.

Suddenly the young Officer realized that he had no idea on what to do next. He couldn't contact either the fleet or the Betras out there. Not even could he arrest the pirate and read her her rights. Boarding the pirate ship would also be a bad idea, because he was pretty sure that he wouldn't be able to handle Nagi if it came to hand to hand combat. He would just have to wait and keep an eye on the pirate. Probably the other pilot had already contacted the fleet about their success, so that the Hirazenty could take over from here.

Just then a frightening thought entered Tenchi's mind. 'If we can send for help, she may be able to do so too.'

The pilot of the Yagami gulped. If he was right, he desperately hoped that the Hirazenty would be the first to be around. Fighting the Kenryo had been bad enough he had no desire to face off the Soto-oh, let alone the Souja.

In spite of his thoughts he had already started to check the systems one more time and tried to prepare the Yagami for battle again.

* * *

The Soto-oh was still using the huge GP cruiser as some kind of cover, but the struggle was turning out as had to be suspected. There were still about six GP's left. The cruiser had received quite a lot of damage, but it still seemed to be far from beaten.

Kagato however, had almost reached his limit, he wasn't able to stop the blasts the enemy ships got in on him anymore. He tried to weaken them as much as he could, but the strain was starting to get him extremely exhausted.

'A few more minutes,' Kagato estimated the time left to him in his mind.

The pirate was just considering to use this time attempting a retreat as a transmission came in. It was from Nagi.

"I'm stuck. One of those idiots tricked me and they somehow managed to shut me down almost completely. Don't take that as a request for help, I just wanted to warn you that they will probably try to get the cruiser over here as soon as possible." The transmission ended.

Kagato's ship was rocked by another hit as he used his mental bond with his tree to hail Ryoko.

"Did you hear that?" he simply asked.

"Bet on it. I've absolutely no idea how she managed to lose against these guys," Ryoko replied.

"What do we do about it?" he inquired further, ignoring her remark.

There was a moment of silence.

"Don't know. That cruiser seems to be quite tough, it may take me some time to beat it off."

Kagato knew that this was Ryoko's way to say that she wasn't sure if she could do it at all and he took it as an suggestion to retreat.

"Well then, I will try to get over to Nagi and see what I can do. Try to hold out here as long as possible, or else we are all finished," Kagato told her in a serious tone.

He knew that sometimes it wasn't the best thing to count on Ryoko, but right now there was no other way.

"I don't need a briefing from you, just shut up and get going already," he was ordered by his fellow pirate.

Kagato mentally closed the link and prepared for his newest task. While pulling away from the surface of the GP battleship the pirate withdraw his mind from his tree, because the risk of passing out from the emotional feedback would be too great from here on.

The remaining five GPs seemed to be confused by his sudden change of tactic for a moment, then they split up. Two ships took up pursuit and the other three stayed around the cruiser to join in the fight against the Souja.

To be rid of three ships was more than the space pirate could have hoped. Well knowing that any hit on his ship could be lethal now, Kagato tried to avoid the enemy fire as well as he could and made his way to the location of the Kenryo.

* * *

The main activity of Redruo for the past few minutes was listening to damage reports. Fighting off the Souja alone would have been enough to keep him occupied, but with the Soto-oh and those ships swirling around over the Hirazenty's hull this was slowly turning into a real nightmare.

"Sir, we have lost our rear shields and the front is almost down too! Hull breaches in sections 7 to 9!" another damage report was shouted at him.

In spite of the emotions this caused inside of him, Redruo managed to keep a straight face. "Evacuate and seal off the sections! Channel energy from all available systems into the front shields, we cannot effort to lose them right now," he ordered.

"Sir, we are getting in a transmission from the Betras!" the communication officer announced.

Now this was something new. Redruo just hoped that they had some good news for him for a change.

"Let me hear."

The com Officer fumbled with his controls for a second and then a deep male voice could be heard over the chaos that was the bridge of the Hirazenty.

"This is the Betras. I have managed to disable the ship of the space pirate Nagi and I request instructions on how to proceed."

"All right! That's what I wanted to hear!" the Commander shouted, while slamming his fist onto his chair.

After a moment of indecision, all of the bridge crew broke into a loud cheer.

Redruo gave them the chance to enjoy this victory for a second longer, then he raised his arm, reminding his Officers that they still were in the middle of combat. The Commander was about to give instructions on what to tell the pilot of the Betras, but his tactical Officer bet him at it.

"Sir, the Soto-oh has just set a course for the location of Nagi's ship!" he told him.

"DAMNIT!" the Commander shouted in response.

He stood up from his chair one more time and pointed at the position of the disabled Kenryo.

"Have two of our ships follow him, warn the pilot of the Betras and tell him not to try anything on his own." Redruo turned his attention to the ship on the view screen again. "And then rid us of this goddamned Ryoko already!" he added forcefully.

* * *

Tenchi was starting to develop a funny feeling. He was observing the battle around the Hirazenty on the screen as well as he could. During their battle against Nagi they had gotten quite some distance between themselves and the flagship. Even with maximal zooming all Tenchi could see were dancing dots and the occasional, very disturbing flash of light.

The thought that maybe the pilot of the Betras had also problems with his com entered his mind. What if the Officer over there was right now waiting for him to contact the Hirazenty?

'Try to stay calm, Tenchi.'

He realized that he was getting himself worked up over nothing. It was more than unlikely that the com system of the Betras had failed too. Tenchi couldn't even remember seeing the ship receiving any major hit that would have been able to deal such damage. Probably it was only a matter of time until the Hirazenty would try to get over here.

Still, the situation remained extremely tensed and so did Tenchi. It was then that his scanners picked up something. He took a look at what was happening and paled. The Soto-oh had left the main battle field and had set a course for the three of them. Furthermore the Yagami's scanners told Tenchi that Kagato had two more patrol ships in tow. The Hirazenty and the three other ships that were left showed no intention to follow them.

"That's not good at all," muttered the dark haired boy as he checked the Yagami's weapon and shield status.

He was pleased to find that the shields were almost at full power again and the weapons were still charged up.

"Okay then, here we go again," he talked to his ship as Kagato approached them together with his small convoy.

* * *

"At that time I didn't thought that we would stand a chance against the Soto-oh. I mean, Kagato had taken on eleven patrol ships and the cruiser before, so how could we expect to beat him with only four ships?" Tenchi explained the situation.

"But you were mistaken," assumed Trake.

Tenchi nodded and took a sip from his glass of water that was standing on the bar. As it had become obvious that Tenchi was the center of attention, the barkeeper had placed a glass of water in front of him without further notice.

Certainly he wasn't about to risk his new main attraction loosing his voice because of a dry throat. Furthermore he seemed to have developed an interest in Tenchi's story as well.

The former Officer took a look around. By now all of the bar stools around them were occupied and where most of the customers had preferred to stay secluded in the edges of the tavern at the time Tenchi had entered, the tables around the bar seemed to be overcrowded now.

"Do you think it was a good idea to talk about this here?" Tenchi asked in a whisper.

Trake, who had by now consumed quite an amount of alcohol, had a good laugh at this.

"Don't let these guys bother you. They just love the story, that's all," he said in such a loud voice that Tenchi winced.

"Yeah, he's right. Stop chatting around and go on," the barkeeper suddenly spoke up, annoyed at the delay.

That again triggered a reaction from the crowd. The people started to roar in dissatisfaction.

"We want to hear how Ryoko kicked the cruiser's ass," one of the guys shouted and the crowd around him approved with wild cheers towards Tenchi.

Realizing Tenchi's growing uneasiness and the fact that he wasn't able to go on anyway, because the noise level of the room had grown too much, Trake raised his arm to draw the attention of the people around him.

"Quiet! He can't continue with the story," the Commander ordered as soon as the noise had dissipated enough.

Silence once again entered the tavern and Tenchi found himself forced to continue, otherwise he would have to deal with the wrath of the crowd. He wondered why he was even bothering to tell a story that everyone seemed to know anyway.

'I have to find a way to get out of here,' he thought as he spoke up again.

"Like I said, I didn't think that we would stand a chance, but Kagato seemed to be in a worse state than I expected...

* * *

The bridge of the Souja was a mess. Pieces of the structure and mechanical equipment that had been blown out of place were scattered all over the ground. Sparks were flying out of some of the systems, so that Ryoko had to put her shield up in order to not get burned over and over.

To every unknowing observer it would have seemed to be a miracle that the ship was still holding together, let alone almost fully functional.

Ryoko however knew her ship and she knew that even with the shields down it would be able to pack quite some punches. There were other things troubling her at the moment. For example the huge monster of a GP cruiser out there, that just kept refusing to submit to her attacks.

Now that Kagato was gone she also had to deal with three more of those annoying patrollers. If she had her hands free she would have wiped them out instantly, but she had to concentrate on the cruiser for now.

All in all she did a good job at dodging the enemy fire, but the little that got through to her, was almost too much even for her enhanced shields to handle. Only a little longer and they would be down completely.

"Crap! And I thought this guy was all talk," the pirate said to the emptiness of the room.

The thought of retreating entered her mind, but she quickly disposed of it. She considered herself the most powerful of all space pirates. Never had she lost or given up a battle before and this wasn't going to change now just because of some overconfident GPs who thought they were up to challenging her.

"You'll never get me. Now go to hell!" she shouted as she simultaneously blew up one of the patrol ships with her main cannon and fired a bunch of blasts at the cruiser.

Some of the battleships systems were overloaded by the impact of her attack and caused small explosions all over the ship, but it's shields seemed to remain intact.

"I can't believe it," the space pirate kept mumbling to herself as the ship shook under the cruiser's counter fire and the state of the bridge got even worse.

Then despite her hopeless situation, the fire of combat in Ryoko's eyes lit up again and she broke into a wicked laughter. If the GPs that were engaging her, could have seen her in this moment, they would have probably turned their ships and gotten as far away from this image of an evil demon as they could.

The pirate was hovering in the air over her pilots chair, not caring that the enemy ships were able to score hits on her while she did so. The sparks and flames that were the bridge around her added to the effect of personified destruction as she continued her evil laugh.

"Alright, you guys asked for it. I've nothing to lose now," she managed to say as she had calmed down a little from her anticipation of the upcoming turn of events.

In all the various tune-ups Washu had done for her on her ship, Ryoko had always made sure that if necessary every single ounce of reactor power of the Souja could be directed into the weapons. That was Ryoko's secret strategy. If everything else fails and there is nothing left to do, blast your way out with all you've got, even if you are killed in the process.

However there was a fair chance of survival in there for Ryoko this time, because the reactor would recharge some energy immediately, so that she would probably get the main systems functional again after her attack. Still, the life supporting systems would have to be shut down, but although breathing air was a lot more comfortable, Ryoko would be able to get along without it for some time.

Red lights flashing all around her made her aware that the shields had finally broken down and she was receiving considerable damage, so Ryoko hurried to make the necessary preparations for her attack.

It did not take her long to make all the ships energy ready to flow into one powerful blast.

"Let's see how you're going to handle this one," she said as she initiated the attack.

A glowing ball of energy formed in front of the Souja's main gun as the ship's systems went down from lack of energy one after another. In the fraction of a second the blast was charged up and fired against the huge cruiser, that was the flagship of the GP fleet.

The fighting ceased as everyone watched in awe at what was going to happen.

The blast connected with the battleship's shield and simply obliterated it, then it hit the ship itself and passed through it as if it wasn't there at all. As it extracted on the other side, the cruiser went dark like the Souja had before.

"Gotcha!" Ryoko exclaimed.

Now she had to wait for her systems to reboot. The Souja's bridge was completely dark by now and the pirate could already feel the temperature falling rapidly, but that was not what worried her. If the pilots of the other two ships got over their surprise before she had at least the engines functional again, things could get messy for her.

Finally, after what seemed like millennia to her, some of the bridge systems lit up again and she got back her maneuverability. As more and more of the Souja came back to life, Ryoko set a course for the location of Nagi and Kagato and accelerated with all she had got so far, slowly leaving the disabled cruiser behind.

After a moment of hesitation, the two patrol ships decided to give up pursuit and to stay with their flagship.

* * *

The battle against Kagato was going better than Tenchi had first expected. Although there was no apparent sign of any major damage on the Soto-oh, the pirate's movements had lost much of their swiftness and elegance. His once so powerful shield was obviously down for good. All in all Kagato seemed to have troubles even holding himself against the combined attacks of the four patrol ships around him, his counter attacks were inaccurate and lacked power a great deal.

Tenchi had managed to integrate himself into the battle formation of the other ships and was getting along well despite his com problems. Considering the odds of battle, it could only be a matter of time until they were able to finish off Kagato too. The operation seemed to work out after all.

Though, in the back of his mind Tenchi wondered what was taking the Hirazenty. The flagship should have come over after they were finished with Ryoko, in order to finally arrest Nagi and Kagato.

Staying careful to avoid Kagato's attacks, Tenchi took a close look on the view screen, where he should have been able to make out the battle around the Hirazenty. He was quite surprised to find nothing but emptiness. There was no battle going on out there and he could not even make out the lights of the flagship. The cruiser as well as the Souja and the remaining ships had just vanished.

The young Officer had no idea what was going on. If only the com system had been functional. Probably there was a good explanation for all of this.

Tenchi Masaki had no way to know, that events were about to unfold, which would make his life take an unexpected and very unpleasant turn.

Searching for some answers the dark haired boy ran a sensor check for the rest of the fleet and he discovered a weak energy signature. It was that of the Hirazenty. From the way things looked, the flagship had gotten quite a trashing.

"I don't like this," Tenchi commented.

He was about to concentrate on the battle at hand again as the screen showed something huge appearing out of the nothingness behind Kagato's ship.

Tenchi focused his attention on the new object and quickly realized what it was.

The Souja.

Unlike Kagato's, Ryoko's ship looked like it had come directly out of a shredder, but that only added to the menacing effect of it's entrance.

The Souja wasn't followed and that either meant that the remaining ships had stayed with the Hirazenty or had been destroyed. Although he had somewhat expected it, Tenchi was still taken aback by the destructive potential of these pirates. However, now he was to witness it one more time with his own eyes.

The ships around him seemed to be quite surprised by the turn of events too, because they had stopped in their fight against the Soto-oh. The battle was frozen for a second.

Then the Souja fired a single energy blast at one of the ships that had engaged Kagato and it was ripped apart like a sheet of paper.

The remaining ships broke their battle formation and scattered instantly, in order to prevent giving Ryoko a clear shot at them.

Tenchi knew that in the long run it was not going to do them any good. With the Souja around the odds of battle had changed against them gravely. Even if the pirates had received major damage, with only three patrol ships they would barely have a chance against Ryoko and Kagato together. The third patrol ship fleet was about to meet it's doom.

"It can't have all been in vain," Tenchi whispered as he clenched his fists.

He started shaking with emotion.

"I can't let them do any more harm," he stated, his voice now clear and filled with anger.

Suddenly he felt an unknown power rush through his body. He did not know what it was and where it had come from, but he knew that it would help him to put a stop to the pirates. In a swift motion he turned the ship around and started a direct attack on the Souja.

* * *

The battle was going to come to an end. Most of her systems functional again, Ryoko was going to blow this joint together with Kagato. Next time the GPs would have to send a real fleet in order to capture the greatest of space pirates.

As she had destroyed one of their ships, the rest had scattered, not giving her a clear shot at one of them, but that also prevented them from attacking effectively. Ryoko couldn't understand why they did not retreat. It was obvious that they had lost by now.

Suddenly a ship broke out of their wild formation and made it's way directly for her.

"Now what's that supposed to be," she mumbled as she fired a blast at the over-eager guy, intending to send him to the next plain of existence.

Her eyes got wide as she watched him swiftly dodging to the side and after that preventing some shots from Kagato by doing wild spins.

The only person she had known that could do such maneuvers was Nagi. Maybe this was going to get interesting one more time after all.

The Souja's weapons were still far from being at full power again, but the barrage Ryoko released on the approaching patrol ship now would have still been enough to vaporize a whole bunch of GPs. Kagato had opened fire with all he had got too, but not a single blast found it's mark.

Meanwhile the situation had gotten highly unusual. The other GPs were too stunned, by what was going on in front of them as to join the battle and it probably wouldn't have done them any good anyway.

The Souja and the Soto-oh were blasting away at the ship that was between them as if there was no tomorrow, but the pilot made it dance in space, avoiding all of the beams and bolts, giving the whole thing the appearance of a bizarre light show.

Fortunately, the Souja's shields had recharged a bit by now, because otherwise Ryoko would have possibly gotten disabled by the accurate counter attacks of the ship in front of her.

She had no idea why, but the pilot of the ship acted as if Kagato wasn't there at all. Of course he dodged his blasts as well, but his own attacks were only aimed at the Souja. Even Ryoko did understand enough of strategy to see that this was ineffective. Where he could have taken out the weakened Soto-oh without problems, the Souja's remaining defensive power, was still more than a match for him.

Somehow the guy must have lost it completely, what he was doing was not only impossible, it was entirely crazy. Ryoko liked him already, she was in the rush of combat again, but she was still curious who this daring pilot was. She tried to hail him between her vicious attacks, but to no avail. The pirate grew frustrated, she had to know who she was dealing with.

The battle waged on and the two other GPs continued their fight against Kagato. Neither Ryoko nor the mysterious pilot was able to gain the upper hand. Ryoko couldn't get a hit in on the wildly dodging ship, as much as she tried and her opponent couldn't penetrate her shields. The guy must have known that he had no chance, still he did not break his attacks and kept firing at her as if he was obsessed.

Ryoko did not want to end this interesting little struggle by focusing her attention elsewhere, but there was always the possibility that the cruiser did recover and if that thing showed up here now, all the fun would be ruined.

There was only one thing left to do. It was risky and would probably offend her fellow pirates quite a bit, but Ryoko was never one to care about what others thought. She knew that she would never forgive herself if she missed the chance to get to know this crazy pilot.

* * *

With Ryoko's sudden appearance things had started to lighten up again. Where Kagato wasn't able to handle four ships at once in his weakened state, two were quite another story.

He was well aware that Ryoko was playing around with one of these guys instead of giving him a hand and he didn't like it, but that was her business. While she kept this lunatic away from him, he would just finish the remaining GPs off, it would take a little longer this way, but the outcome was going to be the same.

A transmission from Ryoko came in.

"Sorry guys, you'll have to take over from here. I have to get going now." With that she started to withdraw from the battle, the snapped GP following her all the time.

Kagato wasn't taken aback in the least by her behavior. He had known that Ryoko wasn't the most reliable person in the galaxy so to speak and from the looks of it he would by now be able to get out of this mess by himself. The only one who would have a problem was Nagi, because with Ryoko gone Kagato had to regard their little group as dissolved for now.

"You heard her Nagi, I guess this is goodbye then," he told his fellow pirate without a hint of emotion in his voice.

Before the former bounty hunter had any chance to react, Kagato got a lock on the second to last remaining ship, finished it off and used the opening to make his escape.

* * *

Tenchi had somehow lost control over the incredible power inside himself. It had broken loose and taken him over. The only thought he was capable of was to put a stop to Ryoko. He had to get her, he was the only one who could do it now and he mustn't fail.

However as Ryoko started to retreat from the battle, his senses began to clear again. He did not know why she had chosen to retreat now, but even if it had something of facing certain death there were some reasons for Tenchi to follow her. Perhaps he had done more damage to her than he had thought and everything that got her away from the battle behind them was a good thing.

"Who knows, maybe I will even get to finish her off." He laughed nervously at this joke to lighten his own mood.

There was more to this then just a Galaxy Policemen's desire to stop the evil doing of a space pirate. Some hidden knowledge deep inside Tenchi told him that it was important to follow Ryoko now.

As the pirate finally accelerated into hyperspace, Tenchi spurred the Yagami's engines one more time and followed her...

* * *

"Later on I found out that after I left there must have been a mistake of sorts. I was charged with some kind of treachery and it seems that part of the failure of the operation was taken as my fault," Tenchi finished his story.

The audience around the bar instantly broke into active discussion of the events of operation Nagako. Tenchi, who was the cause of this all with his story, was soon forgotten.

Trake shook his head with a smile. "All those fools need is a small reminder and once again the topic becomes as fresh as if it happened yesterday."

Tenchi was about to react but the barkeeper got his attention by clearing his throat audibly.

"You are really good, boy. You had them hanging on your lips, although you were a little free in your interpretation towards the end. Well, the story needed some new inspiration anyway," the small man gave his opinion.

Tenchi was taken aback and at the same time relieved. 'So they think I just made this all up,' he thought to himself.

Reading his thoughts on his face couldn't have been too difficult, because Trake gave him a 'See, I told you so' look.

The barkeeper however was totally oblivious to the silent conversation going on between them, he was too engrossed in his great future plans.

"Say boy, how about you stay here and do this for a living? The customers just love this kind of stuff and you would be my main attraction. The payment wouldn't be bad either, we could probably make a fortune together."

Tenchi took a look at the excited crowd around them and couldn't help but think that the guy actually had a point. But still he had no intention of spending his life in a shabby bar in the middle of nowhere.

"No thanks, I think I will have to pass this," he said in an apologetic way.

For a moment the barkeeper was shocked at the response.

Then he shrugged and just returned to his work, mumbling something like, "You don't know what you're missing."

"Why don't you do him the favor? It would certainly work out quite well. And besides he is right, you really are good at it," Trake mocked Tenchi.

"Now stop this already. I told you exactly what happened back then, like you asked me to. Where is the use in this if you don't believe me anyway?" Tenchi replied slightly annoyed.

Trake gave him a smile that was boosted into a grin by the alcohol he had consumed by now.

"Nah, forget about it, I was only joking. Of course I do believe you. Even if your version is fairly different from the one in the GP databanks. You know, if you are right, you were really ousted back then." His look became completely serious as he continued. "The GP's official version is that you took Kagato's and Ryoko's side as they arrived and as soon as it became clear that there was no way to rescue Nagi anymore, you left together with Ryoko. At no point it mentions you being involved in the victory over the Kenryo."

Tenchi had known that his charge must have been severe, but since he had no access to the GP databanks and the public version of the battle was far from accurate and realistic, he had no way to know what they actually charged him with.

"So they pointed me out as a partner of Ryoko?" he said, still not able to suppress his disbelief.

The irony in that was almost beyond his comprehension. And far beyond Trake's of course.

"Yeah, it looks like they needed someone to blame for the failure and since you were not around, you were the best one to serve that purpose. You know how things are done these days."

Tenchi couldn't believe what he was hearing. Since he was a small boy, he had set all his trust in the Galaxy Police as the protector of right and order in the galaxy and now this man was telling him that this very institution, he had not even lost trust in over the past two years, could bring forth such conspiracy.

"No... it was probably just a mistake," Tenchi murmured in a low, toneless voice.

Trake patted him on the shoulder in a reassuring way.

"I'm glad that you preserved your belief in the good in the universe, Tenchi. I wish I could say that for myself too, I really wish I could..."

He was silent for a moment, before his smile reappeared and he took up his earlier high spirits.

"But we will do something about that once you told me all of your story. I'm sure if we do it right we can straighten things out for you."

Tenchi's face lit up a little at the Commander's words. Could it really be that this man was intending to help him proving his innocence and maybe even restoring his job? Somehow Trake just seemed not to be the kind of person who would do such a thing just out of good will.

Then Tenchi's expression darkened and he became extremely uncomfortable as he realized the full meaning of Trake's last statement. 'Once you told me all of your story,' he had said. So he also wanted to know the last part, but there was no way Tenchi could tell about this here, if he was going to tell about it at all.

If there was something he considered his privacy, that nobody needed to know, then it were the hours that followed the space battle with the pirates. As silly as that may have sounded he considered the events back then as a matter just between him and Ryoko.

He was about to ask Trake for a good reason he needed to hear this stuff as he realized that the discussion around them had grown in intensity and meanwhile had become an argument.

Almost like a reaction to his thoughts someone behind him suddenly shouted, "You take that back right now! Kagato is the greatest of all space pirates and everybody who calls him an arrogant idiot has to deal with me!"

Tenchi could hear chairs being knocked back as some people stood up in a quick motion.

"Hah! Your Kagato is nothing but a pathetic little worm compared with the great Ryoko!" another one shouted back.

There was a loud crash and an instant later the entire bar broke into chaos. The people started throwing chairs and the free-for-all between Kagato and Ryoko supporters was opened.

Trake placed a few notes of a currency Tenchi didn't know on the bar and got up from his stool, obviously not impressed by the riot going on around him.

"I guess it's time for us to leave. Your ship should be finished by now, we can continue our talk there," the Commander told Tenchi.

The dark haired boy took a look at his watch and was astonished to realize that he must have been talking for several hours.

However, before they got a chance to do as Trake had suggested, the barkeeper came over with a furious look on his face, all his former plans forgotten.

"You caused this, so you have to cover my expenses!"

Then his look fell onto the notes Trake had placed before him and his expression changed into shock and then pleasure.

"Ohhhh... Thank you gentlemen. Have a nice day and remember you are always welcome at the Ancient Wreckage."

Tenchi and Trake had already started to make their way towards the exit, which proved to be extremely difficult. It took all their hand to hand combat experience to finally reach the exit and leave the bar without getting seriously injured.

* * *

Chapter notes:

Well, the entire chapter was written exclusively by me, nothing from my sister this time.

You certainly realized that the Kagato in the pirate trio is the one from Universe and not from the OVA. Although they have the same name and are both villains, I think that there are still some major differences in their characters and even though I find the OVA Kagato interesting too, I decided that the one from Universe would become a major part of my story.

Please don't forget to drop me a review if you have some time. See you in the next chapter.

Great thanks to Geor-sama, for smoothing things out some more.


	4. Secrets Revealed

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of their original creators and all those affiliated with them. I have neither created them, nor do I own them. Any new characters as well as the events within this story are created by me and my sister, so they are our property. This story is written for fun and as an homage to the world of Tenchi.

* * *

Chapter 3 - Secrets Revealed

A trap. She had been tricked, was Ryoko's first thought at the sight of the person in front of her. Thinking fast, she analyzed her situation. Taking on the woman in front of her was a risk, the force field proved her as a Juraian Royal and as one of them she had to be incredibly powerful. Although Ryoko thought that she would have a good chance of taking her out anyway, if this was a set up, there was probably an entire army hiding somewhere.

However, Ryoko hadn't been Ryoko if she had cared.

With a piercing battle cry she launched herself at her opponent. The woman just kept standing there and made no movement to block or avoid the pirate's attack. A second before cutting the woman in half Ryoko's sword was stopped. Energy crackled as the pirate struggled against the force field with all her might. The woman had her arms spread out to her sides now and it was obvious that it wasn't easy for her to keep the force field in place.

"Really... Miss Ryoko... do you think... this is the appropriate way... to meet a client?" she managed to get out between her efforts to not be cut in half or contaminated by radiation.

Ryoko stopped pressing her attack and after a moment she set down in front of the mysterious woman, her light sword still in hand. Her face reflected her inner battle with the urge to just chop the Juraian into pieces.

"None of Jurai's Royalty ever hires a space pirate," she said in a dangerous voice.

The woman in front of her reacted with a fit of high-pitched laughter.

"Are you really so naive to believe in that? With royalty always comes intrigue and with intrigue comes the need of certain special services."

From the sound of her voice Ryoko concluded that the woman couldn't be much older then her own physical appearance. The pirate had never played a role in internal power struggles of the Jurai Royal Family before, usually their pride would stop them from asking help of a commoner or even criminal. That was the reason she was suspicious, but still this could turn out interesting.

"So in case I decide to let you live, what would you want me to do?"

The woman wasn't able to suppress a chuckle at the empty threat. "At first I would advice you to remember your place if you don't want to get hurt, filthy pirate."

The fire in Ryoko's eyes came to life again. "Wanna find out who's the one in charge here?"

"Do not restrain yourself."

The situation was tensed and for a second it seemed as if they were going to battle it out one more time, but then the cloaked woman relaxed a little.

"Unfortunately, I don't have time for this, so if we could get to business now..."

Ryoko was undecided what to do, until her curiosity got the better of her and she extinguished her energy sword.

"Go on," she told her potential client.

"I need you to acquire a certain item for me."

"Theft huh? Won't get cheap on ya," Ryoko interrupted.

"Let me finish. The item I need is indeed very special, it is the Holy Book of Jurai."

A look of utter shock appeared on Ryoko's face, then realization and finally she broke into laughter.

This was just too much, the Holy Book of Jurai, maybe the most well guarded treasure in the entire galaxy. It was some kind of legend under pirates. It was said that everybody who had attempted a raid on it had been either captured or killed, the book was classified as impossible to steal. And she was hired to steal it for two times in only two days. She had always wanted to take the challenge, but like this... A weird shadowy guy and a Juraian Royal, wanting her, the space pirate Ryoko, to steal the biggest treasure in the entire galaxy, that was quite a situation.

"What is so funny about this?" the woman asked angered, she wasn't used to being laughed at.

"Nothing, it's just that there seems to be a rush on this thing recently," Ryoko explained, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"What do you mean by that?" the woman inquired.

"That's none of your business," Ryoko replied, her voice taking a serious tone again.

"So you already made your move, Yosho," the woman murmured just low enough so that Ryoko wouldn't be able to understand.

"What?"

"Oh nothing, I was just thinking. So will you do it?"

"Depends on the payment," Ryoko answered.

"Well... I happen to have access to some advanced Juraian shield technology, maybe you will have some use for this," the woman told her, confident that Ryoko wouldn't refuse such an offer, since the Juraians normally handled their technology like a treasure itself.

'That doesn't seem so bad,' Ryoko thought. The other guy had offered her some kind of cloaking device for her ship, so that her decision wouldn't be easy. But nobody was forcing her to decide right now. She would just take the job and decide about the reward later, maybe she would even keep the book to herself, in case she would find it valuable.

"Deal," the pirate announced.

She could almost see the woman give a satisfied smile under her cloak.

"Very well, how long do you think it will take you?"

"It's a pretty though job...," Ryoko understated.

"... so I will say two days."

"All right, I will let you know where to meet me then in time," with that she turned and walked off into the opposite direction of Ryoko's ship.

Ryoko looked after her for a while and finally made her way back to her own ship too.

Where every other pirate would have considered himself to be in a jam, she found herself lucky. It had turned out to be a good thing to do Washu's job first, so now she had all the possibilities to choose what to do with the book, once she had it. And she would get it, that she knew for sure.

* * *

Tenchi was amazed at how fast Trake had managed to lead them back to the repair hangar. The Commander was full of surprises, it seemed as if he knew the station like the back of his hand.

Once again Tenchi wondered what kind of connection a person like Trake could have to a place like the Castaway's Hangout. The only explanation he had for now was that maybe the Commander used to do undercover research around here. This would make some sense, because it was the perfect place to gather information, especially about criminals.

As they entered the huge hangar, Tenchi immediately scanned for the Yagami and was surprised at the state of his ship. He had expected no visual change, because he had thought that only the major system damage caused by that stupid E.M.P. and Ryoko's miracle shield would be repaired. But not only had they cleaned up all other traces of his former battle, the red hull of the Yagami was also shining as if polished. The ship looked like it came fresh out of construction.

"Man, they are good," was the only thing Tenchi could say as he continued staring.

"That's why I like to do business with them," Trake commented, well knowing that Tenchi was too occupied with admiring the handiwork on his ship as to really hear him.

A person in the sloppy suit of the stations' technicians approached them as they neared the Yagami. The man spoke a few words to Trake in a language Tenchi could not understand and the Commander paid him with some notes of the currency he had used in the bar before. Obviously satisfied the man left.

"So you do business with these guys often?" Tenchi inquired, hoping to finally get some information out of Trake.

"I would rather say occasionally," the Commander replied.

"But we have more important matters to discuss right now," he changed the subject as they entered the Yagami.

Tenchi led them to his room onto the ship, deciding that this would be a good place to continue their talk.

The room was furnished under GP patrol ship standards, meaning there was only a bed and a small table with two chairs in there. It wasn't necessarily tiny, but it was also far from what one would call huge.

Trake noticed that Tenchi hadn't done much in the means of decoration. There were only two small pictures hanging on one of the walls, that showed him in different situations.

But what was the most conspicuous in the entire room were the letters which looked like they were burned into the wall somehow, near the pictures. They read, "Find me, if you want it back."

Trake had no idea what this could mean, but I assumed that he was going to find out soon.

"Before I can explain to you what I'm going to do about your misery with the GP, I need you to tell me the rest of your story. This is important," Trake told Tenchi as he took place in a chair beneath the small table.

Tenchi seated himself opposite to the Commander. "Will you at least tell me what you need this information for. I don't think that it will do you any good at all," he tried his luck one more time.

Trake put up a distressed face. "I'm really sorry Tenchi, but I can't tell you right now. You will just have to trust me, it's for your own good."

Tenchi meanwhile fought a fierce battle with his own mind. He couldn't tell Trake, he just couldn't. It was embarrassing, it was stupid, it was ridiculous... yeah hell, it was his privacy. It was just plain wrong to tell it to a man who had been a complete stranger up to a few hours ago. Then again, he had no choice. If he did not tell the Commander about it, he would ultimately miss his chance to get out of this whole mess he had maneuvered himself into. Even if he actually did not trust him the least bit, Tenchi was still curious about Trake's plans.

"It seems that I have no choice anyway, so let's get it over with."

Tenchi was almost surprised at his own words. 'Am I really going to do this? I must be insane," he told himself.

Trake leaned back in his chair as much as he could. "I'm glad that you are so cooperative Tenchi. You will certainly not regret it."

Tenchi had his doubts with this statement, but still he continued his story.

"Well, as I said, I followed the Souja through hyperspace. That proved to be quite some task considering the Yagami's inferior engine power, but I managed somehow. Then just as I thought that the ship couldn't take it anymore...

* * *

The Yagami was slowly falling apart under him. It wasn't constructed with the purpose of crossing long distances at maximum hyperspeed.

But that was exactly what Tenchi was doing. He had kept following the Souja for one or two hours and by now the engines were starting to sound their disapproval.

Actually Tenchi was a little surprised that he had been able to keep up with the pirate at all. Maybe he had used a few tricks to increase his engine power, but still the Souja should have doubled or even tripled him out in means of speed. Obviously Ryoko's ship had received more damage than the Yagami in the previous battle.

However, it didn't matter, because if he kept the wild pursuit up for more than a few minutes, the engines would overheat fatally and he would either explode or get stranded in space. He did not want any of these two scenarios to happen, so he slowly started to lower his speed.

'I guess this wasn't such a good idea after all,' Tenchi thought.

He should have known from the beginning that the pirate would outlast him in the end. As he watched the Souja gaining lead, he had to admit that he had finally lost. There was no way he could keep up with Ryoko any further.

* * *

On board the Souja, Ryoko watched the patrol ship slowly falling back behind her. It had been highly unusual that it had kept up pursuit for so long anyway. Although in the beginning Ryoko actually hadn't enough power left to sped the GP out, during their little run trough space the Souja's main generator had recharged enough energy to allow her almost full speed.

But what use would it have been if she had gotten away from her new playmate? So she had adjusted just as much as that he would probably have some trouble following her.

Now it seemed she had slightly overdone it. The hyperspace-engines of her pursuer were probably overheating, so that he had to break up the chase.

"I can't let this happen," she said to herself with a smile.

Only a second later the huge Souja darted out of hyperspace and into the local planetary system.

Ryoko ran a quick scan and found that she was in the Hethorro system. There was the star Hethor and three planets. Two of them were uninhabited by intelligent life, but still had an atmosphere that would fit the means of most creatures. These two would provide the perfect playground.

Right as the patrol ship came out of hyperspace behind her, the Souja set a course for one of the uninhabited planets.

* * *

Tenchi was just about to return to normal space in order to reorient himself and return to the next GP outpost, as his sensors indicated the Souja coming to a stop. Ryoko had left hyperspace. Even if he felt like letting his jaw drop, Tenchi still reacted instantly and re-entered normal space right behind her.

The young GP officer had no idea what was going on, so he checked up on the local system, hoping to find out what had caused the pirate to seek this place.

He found himself in the Hethorro system, a partially restricted area, usually untouched by space flight. It had three planets, two in their early evolutionary process and one with a pre- space travel society under observation of the Juraian empire. Their mere presence in this system already was a severe crime.

Tenchi hoped that Ryoko wouldn't try to access the Juraian colony, because that would complicate matters even more.

Much to his relief she set course for one of the uninhabited planets. He wondered what kind of business she could have there and why she didn't seem bothered by his presence at all.

Although he had a vague feeling that he wasn't going to like the answers, he followed the pirate to the planet, where he would find out anyway.

* * *

Ryoko had chosen the night side of the planet as her landing place and Tenchi had had no choice but to do so as well. Still, he had made sure to keep some distance between the location of the Souja and the point where he had set down the Yagami.

Now the dark haired boy was crossing through the forest for some minutes already and he started to fear that he had lost directions.

Even so he could consider himself lucky. From space he had observed four moons circling around the planet. Three of them could be seen in the night sky currently and they provided a sufficient lighting by reflecting the rays of Hethor.

Without that particular effect the night on a planet without any civilization would have been darker than dark. Instead the forest around Tenchi was bathed in a silvery light by the moons. The sight was almost as good as during daytime, but there was still the nightly atmosphere.

The situation managed to give Tenchi the creeps and to fascinate him in it's beauty at the same time. But he wasn't about to forget what had led him here.

"That's not good. It looks the same in all directions," he whispered to himself.

After that he made the mistake to spin around himself, in order to get a better impression of his surroundings. The only result was that he found himself unable to determine where he had come from, much less where he had to go.

A stupid thought crossed through his mind. It was an article of some galactic newspaper.

"The corpse of a young GP officer was found on the second planet in the Hethorro system, recently. It seems that he had followed the dreaded space pirate Ryoko onto the planet, but lost orientation while searching for her. After wandering the forests of the planet for some days, he died from exhaustion. Ryoko remains at large, so stay alert."

Even though it was probably exaggerated, it left Tenchi with an uneasy feeling. This was what he got for starting such a rash action. The best thing he could do now was to wait for the next day and to hope that he would be able to find back to the Yagami then, in order to leave the planet, head for the next GP outpost and forget about the whole affair.

He knew that it was probably better for him not to find Ryoko. His only weaponry was a GP standard blaster, and somehow Tenchi had a feeling that a pirate who roamed the galaxy for 500 years now, was not going to surrender when he pointed a blaster at her.

Tenchi didn't suffer from overconfidence. He knew that Ryoko could and probably would take him apart limb by limb if he met her. Yet, he kept going into a random direction, following his feelings to where the Souja had landed.

His mind wasn't in charge right now. The sudden burst of emotion from the battle still hadn't worn off completely. He was well aware that it was insanity, but he still needed to find Ryoko at all costs.

Suddenly all his senses flared up for no apparent reason and Tenchi dropped to the side more out of instinct than of conscious thought. Something roared past him, missing him only by the span of a finger. He rolled over his shoulder and was about to get up again, as an explosion occurred behind him.

The noise was almost unbearable and the shock wave was strong enough to tear Tenchi from his feet again and hurl him through the air a few meters, before it returned him to the ground unpleasantly.

"Ouch, what a drag," he muttered as he tried to get up again.

While doing so, he was relieved to realize that expect from a few bruises he hadn't hurt himself seriously. After he had straightened himself out, his gaze drifted into the direction the unusual attack had come from.

All of Tenchi's body and mind froze instantly as he discovered what was obviously the source of the blast. Only a few meters away was standing the space pirate Ryoko, smiling at him.

She looked exactly like Tenchi had imagined her. The spiky cyan hair, the feline golden eyes, everything was in place. She was even wearing the red and white dress, with the short orange and green sleeved jacket, that most of the GP wanted list pictures featured her in.

Yet, Tenchi felt like he saw her for the first time. There was something about her, that one couldn't find in the Galaxy Police records and he knew that it was the reason he had followed her all the way here. He tried to put a finger on it, but he was unable to.

As his gaze remained locked with hers, to his ultimate discomfort he found that this wasn't the only thing he was unable to do. He seemed to have lost complete control over his body. Despite the danger, the same force that had driven him to do all these crazy things in order to track her down kept him firmly in place now.

Ryoko's smile grew even wider, until it turned into a full featured grin.

"Do you like what you are seeing?" she asked in a seductive voice, hoping to startle the obviously already confused guy even more.

The reaction she got was stronger than she had expected from a trained GP. At the sound of her voice, Tenchi was finally able to shake off his paralysis. While he instinctively backed off a few steps his face turned a shade of red that nobody else would have been able to produce.

"No... uh... I mean... yes... uhm...," he stammered.

Realizing that his mind was thrown totally off balance right now he tried to cover his embarrassment by laughing and scratching the back of his head.

The pirate had meanwhile started to readjust the distance between them and so Tenchi found himself backing away even further, all the time hoping that no tree would stop his retreat.

Fortunately, before this could happen the young GP officer got a hold of himself again, and finally started to concentrate on the situation at hand. He was a Galaxy Policeman and right in front of him was one of the galaxy's most wanted space pirates. There was only one thing left to do for him.

He stopped dead in his tracks and the look on his face changed from embarrassment to confusion and then to determination.

Ryoko who had just begun to really enjoy this little game, was a bit surprised by the sudden change, causing her to stop too.

Tenchi took a deep breath. "Space pirate Ryoko, I am Galaxy Police Officer 2nd class Tenchi Masaki and I hereby place you under arrest for violating Galaxy Law on uncounted occasions."

He drew his blaster and pointed it at her.

There was a moment of complete silence. Then Ryoko broke into laughter.

"That's too rich!" she choked out after a while, "You want to arrest me and all you brought is that thing." She pointed at his blaster, slowly calming down a little.

Tenchi had expected something like this to happen, but for now there was nothing he could do but to stay with his role and hope that he would somehow manage to get out of this whole mess.

"Surrender yourself or I will have to open fire," he commanded trying to keep his voice firm.

At least he had guts, Ryoko had to give him that. In fact she liked this Tenchi. He was kind of cute, but at the same time seemed to be able to bring forth great determination and skill if forced to.

Maybe she would make him her new partner after having a little fun with him.

"Oh yeah, I will make sure to surrender every tiny bit of myself to you," she purred and slowly started to make her way over to him again.

Perspiration began to form on Tenchi's forehead, but he wasn't going to let his self-control slip one more time, there was too much at stake here.

"Stop right there! Don't come any closer or I will have to make use of the weapon!" He failed to keep all the agitation out of his voice.

"Don't chicken out. Just do it, Tenchi. You can't hurt me with that thing anyway."

Meanwhile the pirate had come dangerously close and Tenchi's self defense mechanism took over. He fired three blasts at her, not intending to kill her, but to knock her out for good. However, it made no difference. The air in front of Ryoko shimmered for a moment and the blasts were deflected to either side of the pirate, where they disappeared into the forest without doing any harm.

"See, I told you," Ryoko chuckled.

Tenchi wasn't the person for curses to begin with, but right now only one word came to his mind.

"Damn."

A few more seconds and the pirate would have reached him. There were a lot of things he could imagine that would happen then and although not all of them were all that unpleasant, his mind was still clear enough to remember who Ryoko was.

He started to back off again, while desperately searching for a better weapon than his blaster. His eyes locked on the old sticks and branches that were scattered all over the forest ground. There was a particularly strong one, lying on the ground just beneath him. Knowing that this was in no way a better weapon, he still felt that he was supposed to pick it up.

He holstered his blaster and took the stick, never taking his eyes from the pirate in front of him. Grabbing his new weapon with both hands, he got into what he thought was a defensive stance.

Actually he had never used something like a sword in all his life, but still the presence of the stick in his hands filled his entire body with a soothing calmness. It was as if it had become a part of him the moment he had placed his hands on it.

Ryoko watched all of this carefully. The way Tenchi held the stick and had positioned himself implied that he had at least a basic knowledge of swordsmanship. Something one didn't encounter too often in a GP. Usually they would put blind trust in their blasters and never get the idea of using something else. Despite the fact that the stick would not even be able to withstand her initial attack, Ryoko was still thrilled by the idea to be challenged to a swordfight.

The pirate's grin became devious. "So you wanna play hard to get."

Tenchi watched as she gathered some energy in her right hand until it became a ball.

"Okay, let's do it."

She squeezed the ball into a red light sword.

Part of Tenchi screamed at him that he had made a fatal mistake. That if he ever had a chance to get out of this alive, now it was gone once and for all. He, who had never even held a sword in his life before, had challenged the dreaded space pirate Ryoko to a fight, in which he would use a simple stick against her light sword.

But the main part of the young officer was still calm and relaxed, silently preparing for the battle at hand.

Ryoko charged at him. She did not bother to cross the distance between them by conventional means, but just teleported in front of Tenchi and lashed out with her sword instantly. Tenchi managed to bring up his stick in time to block the blow, but he knew that it wouldn't work out like this. The pirate's energy sword would cut through the wooden stick and his body like a sheet of paper.

As the two weapons connected there was a flash of light and Tenchi was ready to meet his doom, but as the light cleared he found himself still alive. What was even more astonishing was that the stick was still in place, fending off Ryoko's energy blade. Lines of blue light left his hands where he held the piece of wood and crackled over it's surface like some kind of high voltage.

"What!" Ryoko exclaimed as she found herself unable to cut the weapon in two, like she had intended.

She increased her pressure, trying to push through. The characteristic sharp hiss of two crossed energy blades could be heard, but Tenchi's new sword remained in place.

Unfortunately Tenchi himself hadn't become as invincible as his weapon and the pressure Ryoko applied to her attack was way too much for him. Quickly he backed away and retreating a few steps, changing to a stance which would allow him more freedom in his movements. The pirate's demonic strength was no rumor and if he wanted to last he had to keep her at bay.

Ryoko's eyes thinned. This was definitely not normal and she didn't like not to know what was going on.

"How are you doing that?" she asked simply.

"I have no idea," Tenchi told her without a hint of emotion in his voice.

He was now controlled by an inner force he had never known that existed and it provided him with both confidence and skill.

Ryoko found that considering his earlier appearance, he was probably telling the truth. And besides, that way he would at least provide a little challenge. So she decided to just enjoy herself by doing combat with Tenchi for now.

She gave him another playful grin. "Well then, let's see what you've got."

With these words she started her next attack. This time she flew directly at him and brought her sword down in a cross slash. Tenchi twisted to the side and batted her blade away at the same time, staying careful not to take the full force of the blow.

Without pause the pirate continued with a series of vicious slashes, which he skillfully dodged or blocked. Not placing much importance on her defense, Ryoko soon presented an opening to Tenchi, which he tried to take advantage off by swiftly changing his weapon in his left between attacks and bringing it around towards her waist in an unexpected motion.

But his stick-blade met only thin air as Ryoko disappeared in front of him the last instant. Without thinking Tenchi spun around, grabbed the stick with both hands and used the force of his spin to parry the pirate's next attack from behind. A soaring pain shot up his arms and exploded in his shoulders as he took the full power of the blow this time. But somehow he managed to cast away the pain and as the swords parted again he continued to defend himself.

The only problem was that this was all he could do. Taking into consideration the pirate's special abilities and her superior strength, even with his new found powers he needed all his concentration to fend her off. He wasn't able to do that many offensive moves and even if he would have scored a hit, he didn't know if his weapon could do any harm to her expect from a bruise.

What he did not know was that Ryoko was only playing around with him. Of course he was exceptionally good for the terms of a normal human, but he already seemed to have some trouble keeping up with her and she knew that she could still increase her pace quite a bit, not to mention using all of her powers.

But the pirate had no intention of seriously injuring Tenchi, she had grown to like him too much for that. In order to really win this battle, she needed to rid him of his weapon somehow, but this appeared to be a more tricky task.

After some more fencing, Tenchi found his stamina slowly wearing thin. He was already breathing heavily and his face was covered in sweat, he wouldn't manage to keep this up for much longer and he had also noticed that Ryoko didn't seem to fight him at full force. There was no way he could win this battle.

As if triggered by this though, the mysterious energy that had been strengthening his sword up to now started to waver. Tenchi tried desperately to keep a hold on it, he tried to access more of the hidden power inside of himself, but to no avail.

Ryoko instantly took advantage of his obvious problems and pressed her attack even more. She thrust her sword in three successive slashes from different sides. Tenchi parried the first two, but they left deep carves in his wooden sword. The third one however, cut right through it.

For a moment Tenchi just stared at the useless stump that was left in his hands. Then he looked up at Ryoko, who had an unpleasantly satisfied look on her face. Then he lost all control over the new power inside himself. Where a moment ago he hadn't been able to access it, now it started to course through his body in powerful waves, making him feel nauseous.

Ryoko had no chance to enjoy her victory any further, as Tenchi's entire body started to emit a blue glow. If she had had any doubts about this boy being something special, they were gone now, but what happened next still managed to take her totally by surprise.

As the power kept increasing inside himself, Tenchi couldn't take it anymore. He threw his head back and screamed it all out. At the same time the glow around him became brighter until it was almost blinding. Then it crossed over to Ryoko, who was still standing next to him. They both turned into white outlines and as Tenchi's scream ended, there was nothing left of them.

* * *

Ryoko felt a little dizzy at first. She wasn't able to determine where she was and what had happened, although she had been fully conscious up to a few seconds ago.

As she scanned her surroundings it slowly came back to her.

It was night. She had landed in a forest on the night side of some planet in order to do something fun, but she couldn't remember what exactly had been her intention.

The space battle. Right, there had been a battle with the Galaxy Police. She knew that the GP had something to do with her being here. Then it hit her.

"Tenchi!" she exclaimed, surprised that she actually had forgotten about him from one second to the other.

She had fought Tenchi and then everything had gone out of hand. He had released some kind of energy and...

... then she had become confused.

With her regained memory, Ryoko was sure that only seconds could have passed from this event. Still, as she let her gaze drift over the forest around her one more time, she realized that this wasn't the place where she had been before. It seemed as if Tenchi had teleported her away somehow.

The pirate hoped that the boy hadn't gotten himself seriously injured in the process, since it had made the appearance of being exceptionally painful. She wondered what it was with his mysterious powers. Judging from his behavior he obviously hadn't even been aware of them up to their confrontation.

However, she shrugged off the thought. There was no way to find out about it right now anyway. That was because she didn't know where she was and she didn't know where Tenchi was, or if he was still alive at all.

Of course it would have been no problem to teleport over to the Souja in a heartbeat, but Ryoko wasn't sure if leaving now was the right course of action. She had developed quite an interest in the young GP officer Tenchi Masaki. He seemed to have most of the things the pirate thought of as important and he was a lot of fun to tease. It would be a shame if she never got to see him again.

For a moment she considered searching for him, but then something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. Shining through the trees to her side was the silhouette of a ship.

Tenchi's ship.

Now that was a surprise, so he had teleported her over to his ship. In no way could she let this chance slip by.

Quickly she flew over to it, so that she was hovering next to the hull and then she phased through it without hesitation.

Coincidentally, she rematerialized in what seemed to be Tenchi's quarters. As was the norm in the GP, the boy had not taken much liberty in furnishing his room. It wasn't that small, but still there were only a simple bed and a table inside, making it appear somewhat empty.

Over the years the pirate had grown to learn that the GP didn't usually let it's officers pilot a particular patrol ship for too long, in order to preserve flexibility in case of an emergency. That was why most pilots tried not to get too familiar with their ships. Tenchi obviously was one of them.

The only personal things Ryoko could make out in the room, were three pictures that were scattered over the otherwise blank metal walls.

Deciding to check them out she floated over to the first one. It showed Tenchi together with some weird looking guy. Concluding from the uniforms they were wearing, it was from his time at the GP academy. Ryoko couldn't help but realize that he was even cuter as he was younger.

She floated over to the next. It was a picture of the ship she was in, with Tenchi in front. He had an embarrassed look on his face. It was probably taken in memorial of his graduation from the academy and appointment as patrol pilot. It couldn't have been too long since his graduation and considering these facts Ryoko guessed his current age to be about eighteen.

Finally the pirate made her way to the last picture. She took a look at it and instantly something struck her odd about it. It was of Tenchi and a woman that seemed to be his mother. What was odd about it was that Ryoko had a distinct feeling to know this woman, but she couldn't recall where from.

"Strange," she murmured.

After the pirate was finished with Tenchi's room, she got at checking out the rest of the ship. It was going to enable her to freely use her abilities around the ship and maybe sometime this would come in handy.

Since the ship wasn't that big it didn't take her too long until she was finished with exploring and returned to Tenchi's room. She made herself comfortable on the bed and wondered what to do next.

In case he was still alive, Tenchi would eventually return here as long as he had the possibility to, but as far as she knew he could be anywhere on the planet right now and there was no way to tell how long it would take him to return and if he would manage at all.

As much as it pained her, waiting for him was most likely to not do her any good. The customer in the Dendos system was long since gone anyway, but there was still other business to attend and it was possible that Kagato was going to get at it without her. She couldn't let this happen, but she had already lost quite a bit of time. She would just have to leave Tenchi a note of sorts, in case he returned.

Phasing into a standing position again, an idea came to her.

* * *

Tenchi awoke with a pounding headache. He opened his eyes with a moan and to his surprise found himself lying on the ground in the middle of a forest. The morning sun was shining through the unclouded sky. The young man had no idea how he had gotten there.

Suddenly there was a loud roar that increased the throbbing in his head a few more degrees. He turned to look at the source and found it to be a spaceship rising out of the forest some distance from his position.

As he managed to identify the ship he rediscovered the memories from last nights battle and him loosing control of himself in the end.

After that he was able to determine the meaning of what he just saw. Ryoko had left. He was actually going to get out of this unharmed. Still, he felt that he had passed a chance with her leaving. The urge that had made him follow the pirate was still there and now that he had gotten a glimpse of the secrets inside himself it was stronger than ever.

He didn't knew why and how this was even possible, but Ryoko held the key to his questions about himself. If he wanted to find out about it, he would have to seek her out and confront her again, but by this time he would be better prepared.

As fast as he was able to with his headache he got up and made his way to where he thought to remember having landed the Yagami.

Tenchi entered his room inside the Yagami and plopped down on his bed immediately. Before lifting off, he was going to get rid of that headache by taking another break.

That was when a feeling overcame him that something was not quite right. It took him a minute to realize what it was. The picture of him together with his adoptive mother was gone. Instead letters were burned into the otherwise smooth surface of the metal wall.

"Find me, if you want it back," it read.

So Ryoko had been inside his ship.

Everything was clear in Tenchi's head now. He knew what he had to do.

* * *

"After some recovery time, I left the planet too. Soon I found out that I was on the GP's wanted list. I had no idea why and I never really found out until you told me, but in order to search for the answers about myself and to prepare for arresting Ryoko I needed to stay free. I just took the Yagami and since then I have been on the run from the Galaxy Police, like you already know," Tenchi concluded the last part of his story.

Trake had at no time interfered or asked a question or even made a comment during the whole report. All the time he had leaned back in his chair and listened carefully. Even now that Tenchi had finished he still seemed lost in thought. With every passing second Tenchi's uneasiness became more visible.

Finally, after a long period of silence, Trake straightened in his chair and crossed his arms on the table.

"You know, that is quite some story you have there. If I didn't know it was true I probably wouldn't believe it," he said with a serious face.

"But I could as well have made all of this up, so how can you be sure that I told you the truth," Tenchi asked.

"I know you better than you think, Tenchi. There was no reason for you to lie to me and besides your story is way too unusual to be a lie."

Tenchi decided that now was a good time to try and bring some light into the mysteries of Trake's plans.

"So what is the purpose of all of this?" he asked straight forward.

"As I told you, this is supposed to be an exchange of information. You told me what I wanted to know, so I will tell you what you want to know," the Commander explained.

Tenchi couldn't help but become a little curious. What kind of useful information could Trake possibly have for him?

"Let's not waste any more time and get straight to the point. I know what will be Ryoko's next target."

Tenchi's eyes got wide in surprise, now this was unexpected.

"It's the holy book of Jurai," Trake continued.

This was almost too much, Tenchi nearly fell from his chair as his head started spinning at what he had just heard.

"The holy book of Jurai?" he repeated in disbelief.

"Correct."

"But that's impossible. Nobody can steal this book, it's one of the greatest sanctuaries of Jurai."

Tenchi was pretty sure that Trake was fooling around with him. Not even Ryoko would risk such a daring coup, or would she?

"Rest assured that my sources are reliable. She will attempt to take the book in less than a day from now."

Suddenly a thought occurred to Tenchi.

"Now wait a minute. Why are you telling this to me instead of mobilizing the GP or trying to capture her for yourself? And where do you have the information from anyway?"

"It's not very polite to ask so much questions all at once, but I guess you have earned your right to do so," Trake said with a smile, before his face turned dead serious again. "You will understand that I can't reveal my sources to you. But I will tell you so much, after I was boosted to the rank of Commander all of a sudden, I did some research about what has gone wrong with the operation Nagako. That was when I found out about your case and considering your flawless earlier records, I realized that the GP databanks were probably not providing the entire truth. I decided to do something about it. I had to search for you for a long time, you were very good in covering up your traces. Now I found you and coincidentally I know what Ryoko's next target is, so I have a plan."

Tenchi still had his doubts that Trake would do all of this just to help him clear up his own personal mess, but hearing him out couldn't do any harm.

"I have a simple question for you, Tenchi. What are you going to do once you caught Ryoko one time?"

"I will arrest her of course."

"And how are you intending to do that, considering that you are now a wanted criminal by yourself?" Trake inquired further.

"Hmm, that's a good question. I guess I will... I mean I just have to... uhm..."

Meanwhile he was scratching the back of his head with an embarrassed look on his face.

"I take it, you never really thought about it."

Tenchi nodded.

"But don't worry, my plan presents a solution for this little problem," Trake explained with confidence. "Of course the easiest solution for the whole situation would be to inform the Juraians about Ryoko's plans, but if they were to capture her, they would never think of handing her over to the Galaxy Police, she has done way to much harm to the Juraian empire in the past. They would punish her under their own law and the GP's proficiency would be doubted as a result." Trake halted for a second, before continuing with the tricky part. "That's why I want you to sneak in and take her on right there."

Tenchi's jaw dropped open instantly and he needed some time to recover enough to speak a single word.

"What!"

Trake made a reassuring gesture with his hand.

"Let me explain. Since you are considered a criminal anyway you have no reputation to loose by breaking in there, so you are the best choice for the job. Once you get Ryoko out of there, I want you to hand her over to me, so that I will be able to present her to the GP for you in order to prove your innocence and restore your position."

Tenchi's head was still spinning and he had trouble concentrating. Everything sounded logical so far, but there was one problem. He was supposed to break into one of the most secure places in the galaxy, to capture one of the most dangerous space pirates right there and get out again, hopefully without being noticed at all. There was only one simple word that came to his mind for describing this mission.

"Impossible," he stated flatly.

"Yeah hell, it may be a little risky, but what do you have to loose?" Trake asked.

"First of all my life," came Tenchi's immediate response.

The Commander frowned. "Now don't fret out Tenchi. You won't get another chance like this and you know the saying, nothing ventured, nothing gained."

"And just how am I supposed to get in there? It wouldn't be one of the most secure places in the galaxy if anyone could just sneak in there at will."

Trake just made a face at this. "Don't underestimate the power of reputation. The Juraians know quite well how to use it. You will find that it should be not as difficult to get in there as they would want it to be. I can't help you directly, but I'm sure you will find a way somehow."

All of Tenchi's mind screamed that this whole conversation was pure insanity, but Trake's words had their own compelling logic. He had sworn to capture Ryoko at any cost and now a chance was presented to him. There was no way he could let it slip.

"All right, I will give it a try," he agreed to Trake's offer, before he could think it over too much.

"We have a deal then," the Commander announced.

He stood up from his seat.

"There is not much left to say for me now. I wish you luck and the meeting point will be the orbit of planet Sasetia in the Gerdos system. I hope to see you there."

With that the Commander left the room, before the befuddled Tenchi had a chance to say anything.

Tenchi stayed in his room, thinking for at least one more hour, before he finally got to the bridge and left the Castaway's hangout in the direction of the Jurai system.

* * *

The pilot of the Betras couldn't understand what was going on around him. First the Souja had appeared out of nothing and had destroyed one of their ships in passing. Then the pilot of the Yagami had suddenly attacked the pirates viciously and on top of that managed to hold himself against the both of them.

And now that he and the remaining ship were engaged in combat with Kagato again and the odds of battle started to turn against them, Ryoko suddenly started to withdraw. With the Yagami following her.

That pilot had probably lost it somehow during the battle, perhaps his head had been injured and it had cost him his sanity. It was obvious that despite his incredible maneuvers, he couldn't do any damage to the far superior ship of the pirate. By following her, the guy signed his own death sentence.

He fired a few blasts at the Soto-oh and watched the Souja and Yagami accelerating into hyperspace. While their attacks dealt major damage to Kagato, he still seemed to have some power left, it wouldn't be easy to beat him for just the two of them.

It was then that the Soto-oh released a volley of blasts at the other ship, which the unfortunate pilot wasn't able to dodge anymore. The pilot of the Betras watched the last remaining ship blowing up before his eyes.

However, Kagato seemed not to be interested in rescuing his fellow pirate anymore, because he used the opening to dash away from the former battlefield and finally, after some struggling, vanished into hyperspace too.

Space had become quite around the Betras and the Kenryo, only the two of them were left now.

After the Officer had recovered a little from the recent events, he thought about how he could utilize this situation for his own good. None of the ships that had participated in the battle against Nagi, Kagato and later Ryoko were left. Maybe except from the Yagami, but Ryoko was probably going to take care of this problem sooner or later for him. Just in case, he would have to make sure that there was no way for this guy to return to the Galaxy Police and clear up any possible misunderstandings.

'Of course I have beaten the space pirate Nagi all by myself', he thought with a grin.

It wouldn't help matters if he mentioned the heroic actions of some absent Officer. Instead he would tell his superiors about the treacherous behavior of the Yagami's pilot and how it had cost everyone of them, except from himself of course, their life.

The story was unfolding before his mind's eye with incredible speed and accuracy. He changed a few facts here, thought about how to properly tell it without drawing suspicion there and soon the perfect intrigue was ready for use. This would for sure be his ultimate chance to boost up a few steps on the ladder of success.

It had taken them a few hours, but finally they were able to restore the main power of the Hirazenty. Redruo had instantly given command to approach the location of the Kenryo, which was surprisingly still in place, together with a patrol ship which was identified as the Betras.

The Commander wondered what could have happened there. He had somewhat expected the pirates to eliminate the rest of his fleet and make their escape all together, but obviously they would at least be able to arrest Nagi of the three.

Not that it made any difference. The operation had turned out to be a catastrophe. Redruo had miscalculated gravely and as a result he had lost almost all of his fleet and received major damage on the flagship. He would have to give up his post anyway. Neither would the Galaxy Police be able to overlook his failure, nor could he ever get into the clear with himself again after what had happened. He didn't know what he was going to do yet, but the post as Commander of the Hirazenty would soon fall to somebody else.

"Sir, we are in com range now," Redruo was informed.

"All right, open a channel to the Betras." The Commander's voice was that of a broken man.

Still, the com Officer did as he was ordered.

"You can speak now, sir."

Redruo tried to restore some of his composure before speaking, but he was only partially successful.

"This is Commander Redruo on the Hirazenty. You have done a good job there and I will await your report after arresting the space pirate."

He was about to give the signal to close the link, as he remembered something he still had to do.

"Oh, and what was your name Officer?" he asked.

There was a moment of silence, obviously the Betras' pilot hadn't expected the question. Then he answered.

"It's Trake, sir. Detective 1st class Trake."

"Good work, Detective Trake."

"Thank you, sir."

* * *

Never had he imagined to be appointed as Commander Redruo's successor after only a short training. He had been aware that the GP was suffering under a lack of good men for some time now, but he hadn't known it was that bad.

He emptied his drink and made a gesture for another one. After his talk with Tenchi, Trake had decided to stop by the next bar on his way back to the shuttle, to kill some time.

He had to be patient now. Although the plan of having Tenchi sneak into the Jurai security complex didn't appear as too promising at first, in fact Trake thought of this as a pretty good idea. He would have to pull some strings of course, so that the boy would at least have a chance, but he thought it possible that Tenchi's unusual powers would help him out a bit once he was inside. There was no way he could let this situation pass without utilizing it.

The Commander couldn't keep a satisfied smile from forming on his face. He hadn't gotten any useful information about Ryoko from Tenchi, but instead he had gotten something even more valuable. His own agent, who would try to deliver the pirate to him directly.

Tenchi Masaki was by far one of the most naive people Trake had ever met and that really meant something. The boy's strong trust in the goodness of the universe was something one did not encounter too often.

He took a sip at his new drink and by now he could feel all the alcohol having an effect on him. But he just had to celebrate his upcoming arrest of the space pirate Ryoko. He would make history. Of course he would have to get Tenchi out of the picture once and for all by then, just to be sure.

The only thing that could screw him now were the Juraians. If they captured Tenchi, it wouldn't matter, they probably wouldn't believe anything he said anyway. But if they managed to capture Ryoko, that was another story. Fortunately Trake was pretty sure that the space pirate would handle the job. She hadn't been captured in the past 500 years, so how were a few Juraian security officers supposed to capture her by accident right now. Just in case he had done everything he could to ensure her success and after some years in the business this had grown to be quite a lot.

This would be his biggest and probably last job of this sort. Once he presented Ryoko to the GP, he wouldn't have to do these things anymore. And that he would arrest her was almost out of the question. His original plan had already been quite promising, but with Tenchi as some kind of addition, the risk diminished even further.

As Trake gulped down the rest of his drink he could feel his mind starting to become foggy. He was well on the way to get really drunk, but he didn't care. It was an occasion to celebrate after all.

* * *

Chapter notes:

The story is warming up a little by now and I hope you enjoyed the read. As well as with the last chapter everything was written by me. Some of the ideas are from my sister, but I thought up the major part of the flashback plot. Tamrin will be around for the next chapter again.

I liked to write this one and I'm curious to know if it came around well. For the ones of you who want to know, the character of Trake and his major part in the story was thought up by Tamrin. Redruo, however, was created by me.

Great thanks to Geor-sama, for smoothing things out some more.


	5. Sneaking In

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of their original creators and all those affiliated with them. I have neither created them, nor do I own them. Any new characters as well as the events within this story are created by me and my sister, so they are our property. This story is written for fun and as an homage to the world of Tenchi.

* * *

Chapter 4 - Sneaking in

The tricky part was about to begin. Ryoko leaned back, crossed her arms behind her head and started thinking. At least that was how it seemed. In fact the cyan haired woman only stared at the huge view screen that covered the front of the bridge and already showed the same picture for some minutes now.

In the eternal darkness of space, between far away stars, was a planet encased by two rings of space dust standing vertical on each other. It was the planet Jurai, center of the Jurai system, but actually the name "green planet" would have done it more justice. However, since the particles in its thick atmosphere made it look violet from space, this would have made little sense and so it was usually just called by its name.

The sight of Jurai had always fascinated Ryoko. Though more fascinating at the moment was the small celestial body, that was set apart from the planet of the Royal Family like a dark shadow. That was because on this inconspicuous grey moon of Jurai was kept one of the best secured items of the galaxy, the holy book of Jurai.

'Now if that isn't a challenge...' Ryoko thought grinning.

As much as she knew, up to now nobody had even mastered to enter the structure itself. But she wouldn't have been the greatest space pirate of the universe if the impossible wasn't possible for her. The only question was how to go at it.

Ryoko sighed and tried to concentrate. Although such a predetermined approach didn't fit her, she needed a plan now.

She typed an order into her station and numbers and figures appeared around the grey moon.

"That might be a problem," mumbled Ryoko and made the disturbing data disappear again with a quick keystroke.

The Juraians had covered up the entire moon with an energy barrier. Normally that wouldn't have been too much of an obstacle, but the shield was tight, energy-absorbing, temporally invariable and was controlled from the ground. With one word, it was impenetrable. The space pirate was beginning to realize why nobody had pulled this coup before.

Ryoko levitated two feet into the air, propped her head on the right fist and the elbow on her crossed legs.

Given that she had to stay unnoticed in any case, the destruction of the barrier was out of the question. It would have probably been impossible anyway. She could only try to get round the defense system or to break through it without being noticed somehow.

According to her information, a supply ship approached the moon once a month. That was the only time the barrier was deactivated for a few seconds on a regular basis. But that wasn't going to get her anywhere. It seemed that she had missed the ship by hours.

"Damn, I can't wait four weeks."

She floated towards the view screen until it filled her field of view completely. Everything looked so easy. Down there was the grey moon and up here, still out of the scanning range of the internal net, hovered her ship. To the naked eye the damned shield was invisible.

So the only way left to successfully complete the mission was to get through the shield without being noticed. But Ryoko hadn't much of an idea of the technical possibilities and furthermore they certainly hadn't put up the shield with a way in mind to avoid it.

For a while the apparently young woman hovered in front of the view screen unmoving and this time she really tried to think of a solution. Ryoko knew somebody who, like for all others, probably had a solution for this problem. But she wasn't going to let it come to it that she had to ask Washu for advice.

"There has to be another possibility. Just think, Ryoko."

The time passed and with every minute Ryoko's anger increased, anger over her own inability to master this first obstacle. In the past she had broken in the craziest of defensive systems, but then again she usually had done everything but to stay unnoticed while doing so.

"Damn it!!" Ryoko cursed while she felt the overwhelming urge to destroy something.

There was only one thing that came to her mind. But unfortunately it was quite unlikely that the communication officers, who were in charge with security, would let her land on the moon and hand her the book if she just asked them nicely.

Ryoko phased back in front of her station, touched a few keys and waited a second before speaking.

"Hey Washu."

At first the screen showed nothing but an empty room, then the head of the diminutive scientist appeared out of nowhere.

"Ah Ryoko. I assume you are going to ask me how you will be able to penetrate the spherical energy barrier of the Jurai moon." Since the space pirate had lost her speech and the statement didn't need any confirmation anyway, Washu just continued. "The construction is actually quite good, I understand that you want to ask for my help with this matter."

An impish grin spread around the corners of Washu's mouth, as she watched the inner fight that was visible on Ryoko's face.

"I'm asking nobody for help. All I want to know is if there is a way to break through this damned shield," Ryoko hissed.

A thoughtful expression took its place on the face of the small scientist. "Well, there is one."

There was silence, as Washu didn't make any attempt to continue. Ryoko knew all too well that it was at her to get the desired information out of the scientist now.

"Yeah hell, then tell me."

"There is not much to say. All you need to do is activate the new mirror shield I gave you."

"Is that it!? I can't believe it's that simple."

Washu shook her head in disapproval and raised her right index finger. "The adjustment of two ninety-eight percent incoherent phases is all but simple. It requires extensive studies of the singular anomalies, which..." Ryoko cut off the link. She had heard enough.

A few seconds later the Souja was covered in purple light and rushed for the grey moon.

* * *

Already after the first couple of steps, Ryoko's clothes were dusty enough for her passing through as a walking monolith. Only her hair had preserved some of its original color and still stood in stark contrast to the monotonous grey surroundings.

The treasure moon was just your ordinary moon. Small impact craters were scattered all over it's surface. Otherwise it was relatively plain and dusty. There was no visible trace of any native life, still the oversized dust ball was provided with a thin atmosphere. Ryoko had no idea how this was possible, but she estimated it to be enough for a Juraian to survive. That was probably why they had chosen to build their treasure vault here in the first place. However, it was still a rather unpleasant place.

The slender woman quickened her pace and found to her irritation that this swirled up even more of the minute grey dust.

"Crappy stuff!" she mumbled and tried to brush down the dirt from herself.

But the tiny particles were stickier than she had thought and in the end the only effect she got was to cover all of her hands in dust too.

"Argggg! That's enough!"

Ryoko stopped, looked back and made a face. She had gotten only about fifty feet away from her ship.

After successfully breaking through the energy barrier, what had against Washu's prediction eliminated the mirror shield and almost the entire ship too, Ryoko had landed the Souja in one of the bigger craters a little farther away from the only artificial complex on the surface.

The yellow eyes of the space pirate returned to her destination, a far away orange colored structure. It was huge enough for a small town to fit in without problems and it's form was similar to that of a hemisphere, what was kind of uncommon for a Juraian building.

Ryoko lifted off the ground, causing a cloud of dust to rise around her, and took off towards the structure. With a satisfied smile she noticed that the minute particles were left far behind her.

As Ryoko kept moving towards the strange building, she was able to make out more details. The huge construction wasn't orange in color, but consisted of different yellow, brown and white shades, melting into one another. Also they were in no way motionless. The colors seemed to develop a life of their own. What mixed in one place, divided again in another. It was a swaying and wavering that could be only compared with the play of colors on a soap bubble's skin.

"What the hell is that?"

Ryoko made her landing not too far from the mysterious object and took cover in a small crater.

There was not a soul to be seen, not even surveillance systems.

"That's strange," murmured the pirate and straightened up again.

It seemed that the Juraian security engineers were not familiar with some of the most important rules of surveillance theory. The nearer the thief got to the object of his desire, the more difficult should it get for him not to be discovered. Just that was the whole fun of all the raids. Well, once she was inside and got a hold of one of the officers, she was going to have a word with him about that.

Ryoko shrugged and was about to resume her approach, as a humming sound reached her ears. Instantly she ducked again, to hear the humming increase in volume and then decrease again, as it's source kept following it's way away from her position.

Curious Ryoko risked a look out of her cover and spotted a small cylindrical object flying along at side of the wavering structure. It took a while until the little machine disappeared from her field of view.

"Now that's more like it."

The experienced thief assumed that the humming friend was some kind of observation tool. Probably it circled around the strange construction in regular intervals. So there was no time to waste.

Ryoko materialized directly in front of the swaying mass. She reassured herself that there were no surveillance mechanisms in sight one more time and slowly extended her right hand. Her fingertips were only an inch from the quietly flowing color mix and kept moving towards it.

Ryoko held her breath. Her skin came in contact with the construct and it caused a wild boiling. Not until she withdrew her burned fingers with a suppressed scream Ryoko noticed that she had made a fatal mistake.

--

"So the color of hair was cyan, you said?"

As Officer Ajin nodded without expression, a wide grin found it's place on the face of the Commander in the dark blue Juraian uniform.

"Then I know who it is."

Tensed silence filled the control room. Soon there were left only the rhythmic beeping of the observation systems and the quite breathing of the three Officers in duty.

Mike Marlak, the youngest of them, stiffened in his chair and let his gaze shift nervously between the grinning Commander and his colleague.

Ajin, a dark haired somewhat youthful looking man, had his arms folded behind his head casually and gave his superior, who sat some feet apart from him, a challenging look.

"So you know? Then tell me."

Commander Genousar leaned back, crossed his legs and brushed over his moustache in an overbearing gesture.

"It's the infamous space pirate Ryoko."

Marlak's eyes grew wide in surprise. "Ryoko..." he murmured and cast a questioning glance at Ajin.

But the features of the older man still showed the same expression of stoic indifference.

"That's wrong," Ajin said simply and the grin vanished instantly from the face of the Commander.

"Impossible. There's only one cyan haired female person I know and that's the pirate."

Ajin did not pay any more attention to his cursing superior and turned to Marlak. "That's your chance. Do you know whom I'm talking about, or do you need more hints?"

"Well,..." The young man sighed. "One more hint, please."

Officer Ajin shook his head in disbelief. "The woman I'm looking for is well known by all people of Jurai. Nearly everywhere you look there are paintings showing her features."

"That's Ryoko..." mumbled the Commander grumpily.

"No, wait a minute," rose the voice of the youngest Officer. "A cyan haired woman, loved by all people of Jurai?!" A furtive smile appeared on his face. "That's our Empress Achika."

Ajin nodded in approval. "Right! Now it's your turn, Mike."

"Wait," Commander Genousar interrupted. "Don't tell me the hair color of our Empress is cyan, that's like saying the Emperor had purple hair. It's definitely black, everybody knows that."

The young Marlak watched his calm colleague slowly bending forward.

"Maybe you're right." Then he continued in a quite voice as if he was revealing a big secret. "But I was not talking of the original one. The one I described is just now in this building ... in a very special place."

Genousar looked at him without comprehension for a moment, then he understood and his expression darkened.

"You are talking about this awful daubing in the men's..."

A sudden high-pitched sound made the Commander stop in mid sentence. All three Officers instantly turned to their stations and checked the readings.

"The alarm was set off in sector three-fourteen of the level two shield," stated the Commander with irritation. "Marlak, Ajin, report!"

The fingers of the youngest Officer darted over the control panel and made different outside views and data appear on the screens.

"No suspicious activities in the inner sphere, sir," he announced quickly and just a little too loud.

"Good," muttered Genousar and gave Ajin, whose movements lacked any haste, an impatient look. "What about the outer shield?"

The urging question of the Commander was answered by a slow headshake.

"The Larunga came in a few hours ago, according to schedule. There are no traces of an unauthorized break through." Ajin turned to face his superior. "It was probably just another malfunction, but I will send out a few Vidlogs anyway."

"All right, do this."

One could see that Genousar was relieved that there didn't seem to be any threat in the situation.

"Officer Marlak."

The young man flinched visibly and turned to his superior hesitantly.

"Yes, sir!?"

"It's your turn and this time I won't lose."

--

Ryoko stared at the wall of colors, which had meanwhile calmed down, and tried to find an explanation for the recent happening.

"What's that thing? Another kind of energy shield?"

Absentmindedly she rubbed her fingers, although the burns were long since healed.

"That's really starting to bore me. I'm going to have to find a way to break through this one too."

Ryoko had just spoken these words with determination, as the humming became audible again. Only this time it seemed not to be originated in a single object. The sound resembled that of a swarm of bees and it's volume increased to an almost unbearable level.

"Oh, Oh. Seems like someone got suspicious."

The space pirate considered the two alternatives she had for the fracture of a second and finally decided to take the risk.

"You guys won't ever see an inch of me."

With that Ryoko vanished and little later reappeared on the other side of the shield.

"That was too easy," mumbled Ryoko as she took cover behind the marble statue of some officer and scanned her surroundings with suspicion.

She found herself in a small park. There were a lot of trees, which stretched into the air majestically. To plant trees on such a dusty moon, only Juraians could come up with such an idea. They obviously had also adjusted the temperature to the needs of the plants. It was noticeably warmer and more humid compared with the outside. Ryoko's gaze drifted up into the air. She wouldn't have been surprised if thick rain clouds would have gathered there- the Juraians were capable of everything, but the eyes of the space pirate only spotted the orange dome of the shield.

Behind the strong tree trunks, Ryoko would find enough cover to move on without being seen. The only question was, in which direction. During her research she had not come across any maps of the complex. So there was nothing left for her to do besides looking around a little.

She phased behind the next tree. While to her left the park seemed to stretch out quite a bit more, to her right she could already make out the last plants. Behind them there was an odd intricate wooden tower rising into the air and beneath that piece of Juraian architecture Ryoko's sharp eyes revealed to her the outline of a huge freighter.

'The space port, I guess,' the woman thought and concentrated on her advance again.

In front of another bright wooden building that marked the end of the park, Ryoko could see the shapes of two figures. They were clothed in typical light blue Juraian uniforms. Otherwise the area wasn't guarded at all.

Phasing from tree to tree, Ryoko slowly made her way to the building. Carefully she risked a look out of the cover of the last trunk. Two guardsmen walked down the pathway past the bright building towards the entrance of the park, talking loud enough.

"Have you heard the story of Henry?" the smaller one said.

"Henry? The ghost of the killed guardsman who is said to haunt the old tunnels?" the other one requested.

"Yeah, someone told me he saw him in the western tunnel near the holy shrine. Ray and me are going to take a look at the place after my shift. Wanna join us?"

"I don't believe in that ghost stuff, but since there's nothing else happening around here I'll come with you." The taller one didn't seem to be very enthusiastic.

"Okay, Ray will be waiting for us in front of the entry." Ryoko saw the guardsman pointing in a western direction.

The conversation dragged on about the mysterious death of the legendary guardsman Henry, but Ryoko had long since abandoned her eavesdrop position and already floated along the back of the wooden building without noise.

* * *

Thick grey fog covered the bleak swampland and wrapped around the few trees as if it was trying to suffocate them in it's cloak. Enclosed bubbles of poisonous gas made their way through the viscous liquid and delivered their contents to the surface with a sighing noise. A moldy smell was omnipresent.

However, even in this hostile place life existed. A few little insects had accomplished the impossible and grown accustomed to the unusual conditions. They buzzed along the border of the swamps, ate the mold off the decayed trees and before they finally ended their short life they produced a dozen of eggs in a safe place, in order to share the suffering with their descendents.

A female insect had thought of a dead branch, laying on the muddy ground, as such a safe spot and placed her eggs on it. A mistake that her offspring had to pay dearly for, because shortly after the insect had left the place, a single motion ended hundreds of incomplete lives.

The crunching mixed with the low sound the mud produced, but was still audible and caused an evil smile to appear on the face of the man, whose right boot just lifted of the ground to make another destructive step.

The figure was covered in a long grey coat. The hood pulled deep down the face, it almost merged with the thick fog patches. Slowly but with determination the dark shadow moved along the border of the swamps, accompanied only by the sound his steps made on the muddy ground and the periodical cracking of uncounted chitin shells.

The man stopped in a spot that, if it hadn't been for the thick atmosphere of the planet, probably had been described with the term clearing. But in fact it was nothing but a barren patch of moss-covered ground, surrounded by stunted trees.

He looked around from under his hood once and then walked over towards an old rotten trunk that was lying in the center of the dark clearing. Another hooded figure emerged from the shadow of the trunk.

"You are late, Yosho."

The man stopped and looked at the woman, who was quite familiar to him, without expression.

"I was delayed," he spoke, but his dirty smile told a lot more than that.

An equal smile appeared on the woman's face.

"Any problems?"

The man's dirty smile turned into an evil grin.

"Nothing that could not be solved, darling," he answered.

There was a short moment of silence before the man continued in a more serious voice. "So you're going to tell me that you are giving up?"

A fit of high-pitched laughter rang through the swamp, but the thick fog deafened the sound immediately.

"Me giving up?! What a joke. No, I was about to tell you that I'm going to win our bet." She gave him her most self confident and superior glance, but the only reaction she got was a meaningful smile.

"Really?!" he asked, making it clear that he had no belief in what she said.

"Yes. I hired the most qualified person in the entire universe. She will do her job properly and in some hours I will hold the treasure in my own hands. You see, I'm going to win the bet."

The woman laughed again, but this time she was interrupted by Yosho's deriding voice.

"I wouldn't be so confident in your place, Ayeka. I gave the mission to a very trustful person too. Nothing is decided yet."

"You are just bluffing because you can't accept that I will be the winner this time," Ayeka said in a self-assured way, making an appropriate gesture.

"Maybe I will loose, maybe you." The man smiled again. "In any case, we will both win."

The hooded woman made a step forward and looked deep into the dark brown eyes of her husband. She could see the same hatred in them that she felt herself.

"Indeed we will. Finally the time of vengeance has come. They will have to pay for what they did to us."

Yosho nodded. "Once we get the book our campaign of destruction will start. But we will talk again before."

"Yes," Ayeka smiled. "And I will show you Jurai's holy treasure then."

"I don't think so," Yosho replied with a grin, turned around and went away.

Ayeka remained standing there for some minutes, looking forward to the moment, where Yosho had to accept that she was the winner, as a matter of fact.

Then she walked in the same direction she had come from, towards her space ship, crushing bug eggs with pleasure.

* * *

Tenchi's boots caused consistent sounds on the metal ground of the bridge. The Yagami kept approaching the small Jurai moon fast, much too fast for Tenchi's liking. The young man had been walking up and down restlessly for already half an hour now, going through the same thoughts over and over.

Ryoko was going to try and steal the holy book of Jurai from the moon and Trake expected him to catch her in the act and arrest her. But in order to do this he had to get on the small celestial body himself first.

Tenchi stopped and sighed. He had not the slightest idea how he was going to get by the security systems. For a moment he considered using his true identity, hoping that the Juraians wouldn't get the idea to look up his name in the Galaxy Police wanted list or to check the registration of his ship. But Tenchi had never been the person who was comforted by fate and circumstances.

He hung his head in distress. The conversation with Trake had awakened memories of past times, called forth pictures he had almost forgotten and emotions he still did not understand. He questioned himself how his life and career would have turned out if he hadn't met Ryoko back then.

After a few minutes of intense thinking, Tenchi turned his gaze ahead again. Determination was shining in his brown eyes. No, he didn't regret anything. Neither his confrontation with the space pirates, nor his acting on his own authority back in that space battle. To get into a high position within the GP had never been his goal of life. And now he lived for hunting after Ryoko, to capture her one time and finally get all the answers about himself he was searching for.

Perhaps now would be this final moment.

Still, the problem of how to get past the security systems remained unsolved. Tenchi made a dissatisfied sound and resumed his pacing.

The rumor had it that nobody had ever succeeded in landing on the moon without permission. And Tenchi knew that he was lacking too much ability in order to be the first one to accomplish something like that.

In case he didn't want to turn himself in, he had to get into the complex, confront Ryoko and escape again, all without being noticed. This plan seemed to be almost impracticable, but he had no choice. Of course he could try to wait for her in orbit, but the recent battle had shown him, that even if he had kept improving it, his ship was still far inferior to the Souja. He had to arrest the pirate while she was still on the moon.

His gaze passed the front screen and his eyes grew wide in terror. The grey moon had considerably grown in size. Just as he realized the meaning of this discovery, there was a short beep and shortly after, a calm male voice could be heard.

"This is Jurai moon base alpha. Your ship is going to make contact with our outer shield in thirty seconds. Stop right there, or you will be destroyed. This is our last and only warning."

"No!" Tenchi shouted and jumped to the control panels in order to do what the man had told him.

A few seconds later the Yagami floated in space, unmoving.

Tenchi stood in front of the huge view screen, his hands resting on the panel with his upper body slightly bent over and shook his head, a blank look on his face. After thinking uncounted hours of how to penetrate the shield, he had almost collided with it. However, a male voice pulled him from his thoughts again.

"Alpha base to GP-patrol ship. Identify yourself and state the reason for your presence in orbit."

Tenchi's heart skipped a beat and everything in his head was plain all of a sudden. They had discovered him. Now there was nothing left for him to do but to act. With a somewhat mechanical gesture he established an audio link.

"Uhm... I request permission... uhm... to land on the moon," Tenchi stuttered.

"Identification, please," the voice made itself audible with a bored undertone.

Tenchi straightened his shoulders and took a breath. He had to be convincing now.

"My name is Ma... Marunak."

He bit his tongue. They weren't going to buy this. Dazi Marunak had been like an older brother to him sometimes during his time at the GP academy and he had made it up the ladder of career quite a few steps.

"Admiral Dazi Marunak?! We were not expecting you before next week."

Tenchi's jaw dropped, but not a single sound escaped from his throat. Not until the man had repeated his last words one more time, Tenchi was able to recover his voice.

"Uh... I have some other important business to attend next week."

Endless minutes passed by and Tenchi wondered if they had already unmasked him. Then the alpha base came back to him.

"You have permission to land on ramp two. A security officer will guide you from there. Alpha base out."

--

"Don't you think we should ask Commander Genousar before we allow someone to pass the level one shield?" asked the conscientious Marlak carefully.

Ajin however, just leaned back and looked at his younger colleague with a superior smile.

"You have much to learn yet, young friend. Here's the first lesson." The dark haired man turned his chair, so that he faced Marlak directly and continued. "Never disturb Commander Genousar while he has his tea at three."

"But... it's an emergency. We mustn't let an unidentified ship arbitrarily pass through our shield." Marlak said unappreciatively.

"We did so anyway and to calm you, I'm going to inform Genousar after he finishes his tea." With that he turned to his controls again, the topic obviously closed for him.

"I don't get it," mumbled the younger Officer in disbelief. "You just let someone in without even proving his identity and then you tell me you're going to inform the Commander when he arrives?! What if he isn't the one he wants us to take him for?" Marlak thought for a moment and phrased the worst scenario he could imagine. "Perhaps he is a space pirate, hiding a whole space pirate company in his ship. Probably they are here to steal the holy book and in order to achieve this they will kill us all."

Ajin gave his colleague, who had meanwhile grown extremely nervous, a mild smile.

"You're reading too much of these horror novels, Mike. I already told you, don't worry. There's only one person on the GP-ship and either he is Admiral Marunak or somebody else, a single person can't do any harm to us."

Mike Marlak looked at him, aghast.

"So you consider it possible that he doesn't tell us the truth and let him pass even so?"

"He's the one who started the game," Ajin replied simply.

--

This side didn't bear any surprises either. Ryoko kept hovering along the western wall of the building until she reached some kind of window. The space pirate rose up a bit higher and flew past above the opening, closely beneath the strangely wound roof. From there Ryoko could see a few buildings which were similar in style, but in order to get over there, she would have to cross the rather wide pathway and there didn't seem to be much cover at all anymore.

Ryoko set down on the ground again and carefully looked past the wall of the building. The pathway was directly in front of her. There were no guards to be seen. Obviously the Juraians underestimated the abilities and cleverness of a true space pirate. The area seemed to be totally deserted and it occurred to Ryoko that maybe the invincibility of this place was nothing but a rumor to keep potential thieves at bay.

"Anyway, I'm the first one who will succeed in stealing this book." Ryoko grinned.

"I don't think so," she suddenly heard a deep voice behind her. "Lay down your weapons, put your hands behind your head and turn around slowly."

The surprised expression that had been on her face for a moment was replaced by an even wider grin.

In fact he had only wanted to relieve himself quickly, but now the Juraian guard was totally shocked to see the just cornered intruder vanish into thin air before his very eyes. He did not even have the time for a curse, as he felt a sharp pain in his neck and sank to the ground with a quiet sigh, unconscious.

For an instant Ryoko toyed with the thought of just vaporizing the obtrusive guardsman, but then again this wouldn't do her any good and in spite of what some sayings told about her, she wasn't the person to kill defenseless people out of joy. After all the man had only done his job, just like her. Though he hadn't been as good, but that wasn't his fault.

So Ryoko placed the body near to the wall of the building, in order for it not to be seen from along the path right away. She was well aware that this incident would result in a definite time limit for her. However, it would probably take more than an hour for the man to be spotted by others or to regain his consciousness. Hopefully this would be enough for her to grab the book and make her way out of here.

There was no more time to lose. Instantly Ryoko phased across the way into the shadow of the next building. The small guardsman had pointed vaguely in this direction, so the entrance to the tunnel connected with the holy shrine had to be around here somewhere.

Ryoko's gaze scanned the area, but she discovered no traces of any kind of artificial substructure. In the center of the area there was a huge square construction, with two pairs of guards patrolling in front of it. That had to be the holy shrine. However, from her point of view Ryoko wasn't able to make out any kind of entrance.

She became aware of the sounds of many footsteps nearing her position. Without hesitation the space pirate phased out of existence and reappeared on the other side of the building. From there she watched a group of seven soldiers moving along the way into the direction of the holy shrine.

"Well, seems like I have to look for the tunnel down there," murmured Ryoko with some disappointment.

She took a deep breath and her face showed an expression of high concentration. Then she sank into the ground.

--

Tenchi had landed the Yagami on the second ramp like instructed and had just left the ship.

Up to now everything had worked out better than he had ever expected. He was inside the complex and now he only had to find a way to divert the center of attention, in which he had maneuvered himself.

"Admiral Marunak!"

Tenchi jumped. He hadn't seen the small security Officer, who had positioned himself in front of the Yagami, at all.

"Welcome at the alpha base, Admiral Marunak!" the man greeted loudly and saluted as Tenchi made his way over to him hesitantly.

"Thanks..."

But the guardsman didn't seem to have heard him as he carried on in his loud voice undeterred. "Would you please follow me. Commander Genousar is awaiting you."

Then he just walked off and Tenchi had no choice but to follow the kind invitation.

After they stepped out of the shadow of a huge freighter, which Tenchi found to be inscribed with the word Larunga, the guardsman led them down a path in a western direction, approaching a bright wooden building.

While they walked through some kind of park with healthy green trees, Tenchi realized that he was going to reach a dead end soon. Most likely the Commander knew the Admiral. But anyway, Tenchi's worn down uniform and his oafish acting wouldn't help him to make a convincing Admiral. He had to avoid this meeting at all costs.

The guardsman noticed his high guest falling back behind him and turned around.

"Admiral?!"

"Oh... uh... I just admired the trees," Tenchi answered quickly.

"Thanks Admiral. It's a lot of work to keep them growing on this filthy ground," the guardsman explained and walked on as fast as before, knowing that the Admiral was going to follow him.

The first of Tenchi's two ideas was obviously ineffective. Whether he liked it or not, he was going to have to try it the hard way.

Tenchi studied the guardsman intently from behind and searched for a possibility to take him out with a single hit. Unfortunately, this possibility did not seem to exist. Except from the light blue uniform, which was reinforced with metal and wood in various places, the man was wearing a strong helmet with visor that protected head, neck and face.

Just as Tenchi had decided to risk an attack against his better judgment, the guard stopped and pointed towards a big wooden door.

"We are there. After you Admiral Marunak."

The door wings slid open with a faint creak and revealed the sight of a long corridor with three small cylindrical objects buzzing along it's periphery.

Tenchi remained locked on the spot.

"That's the third generation of Vidlogs. Faster, as well as equipped with a motion tracker and level three intelligence. They record pictures together with sound and send the information immediately to our control center."

As the young Admiral didn't show any reaction besides an absent nod, the guardsman cast an impatient gaze at his watch.

"We have to hurry. Would you please enter now, Admiral?!"

"Oh, of course," Tenchi replied, despite all of his mind and body screaming at him not to enter the wooden building.

As soon as his feet made contact with the artificial ground, one of the Vidlogs buzzed over to him. Tenchi flinched instinctively and eyed the small cylindrical object with suspicion.

The reaction wasn't lost on the Juraian guardsman.

"There's no need to worry, Admiral." He made a gesture with his right hand and the wooden machine rushed away.

Tenchi almost sighed with relief. The Vidlog didn't seem to have caused an alarm. But if he wanted to preserve himself a minimal chance to get out of this, he would finally have to start playing the Admiral he was posing as.

"Tell me, do you think these are an effective way to become aware of the activity of possible thieves or pirates?" he asked in a voice, faking interest.

Tenchi couldn't make out the face of the guardsman through the visor, but his remaining silent made it obvious that the man didn't know how to answer instantly.

"Since, like you probably know, no stranger ever succeeded in infiltrating the alpha base, you will understand that we can't make any statements about the efficiency of our internal observation systems."

"I see." Tenchi nodded in understanding.

The guardsman walked past him. "This way, Admiral Marunak."

Tenchi felt like the lamb before the slaughter. He knew that he was walking directly towards his doom, but there was nothing he could do about it.

The uniformed Jurai officer stopped near one of the few doors, which branched off the corridor and straightened up.

"Admiral, the office of Commander Genousar. Please enter."

"Oh... uh... I..."

"Are you alright, Admiral?!" the guardsman asked with confusion.

Tenchi knew that now was his last chance to escape the ultimate deathblow.

"I... I feel the urge to visit this place's sanitary facilities."

That left the guardsman speechless.

"Oh... but... of course Admiral. Just follow the corridor. The toilettes are situated on the right side."

"Thanks," Tenchi replied and hurried away.

* * *

Ryoko phased into the tunnel. Being immaterial for such a long way had been quite a strain for her, so she was a bit disoriented. The only thing she realized was that the tunnel was rather wide and filled with technology to some extent, but it wasn't going straight for long before it made a sharp bend.

However, she had no time to turn and examine the other side, because as her dizziness cleared, she noticed the single guardsman standing almost directly in front of her. The only thing that had stopped him from acting so far, was the fact that he was a lot more surprised at this sudden encounter than Ryoko herself.

In spite of that, the moment Ryoko discovered him he aimed his blaster at her and fired. The pirate barely managed to bring her shield up, so that the energy bolts bounced off harmlessly, disappearing into the depths of the tunnel behind. Although she knew that she had gotten dangerously close to being hit, she put up a confident grin.

"Is that all you can do?" she asked, growing to like the thought of taking this guy apart.

The guard answered the question by action and did something Ryoko really didn't expect. In one motion, almost too quick for the eye to follow, he threw his blaster at her.

Since Ryoko had to use extra effort for blocking physical matter with her shield, she normally didn't use it to that extent and the weapon passed right through. It hit her hard in the lower region of her face and literally wiped her grin off. Her head was jerked back by the impact and the blaster clattered to the ground some distance away.

As she turned to look at the guardsman again, a small trickle of blood ran down from the corner of her mouth. She wiped it away, never taking her eyes from her opponent and as she had cleared it off, the wound had already healed, but still she decided that this guy needed to be taught some manners.

"You will pay for that." Ryoko growled silently, in a voice that would have made even the most vicious of creatures flinch.

The guard who had confronted her didn't. He also didn't decide on one of the courses of action Ryoko would have expected from him. He neither tried to call for help with his communicator nor ran away screaming in fear. However, he got into the combat stance of some kind of martial art.

For a moment Ryoko doubted his state of mind. She knew the Juraian guards were briefed in the identity of the most wanted criminals and this one must have found out who she was by now, if he wasn't blind and deaf. Nevertheless he was challenging her in hand to hand combat instead of just informing his superiors like his job requested from him. And unlike the guard Ryoko had taken out before he had had plenty possibility to do so.

But in the long run she didn't care about the overconfidence of Juraian guards, in fact if she managed to beat this one up quickly, she could imagine to still have a chance of getting out of this situation unnoticed.

"Okay, let's do this the hard way," she announced and teleported directly in front of him.

She shot a punch at him almost the same instant she had finished the last word, but he still managed to block it and countered with some well performed punches and kicks for himself.

Ryoko was able to either block or dodge all of them, but she had to admit that this guy was putting up a good fight.

For several minutes they remained locked in combat, with the speed of the blows and kicks exchanged rapidly increasing until it was far beyond the abilities of a mere Juraian.

Still neither one of the fighters seemed to be able to gain the advantage and Ryoko had long since realized that something was not quite right here. No Juraian guardsman, no matter how well trained, should be have been able to keep up with her to that extent. Anyways, she liked the rush of combat she had gotten into and had a great time battling this mysterious enemy.

After a while of practicing advanced martial arts, the pirate decided to move the fight to a new level, well knowing that that would be the point where she would outmatch her enemy. In the middle of battle she phased out in front of him and materialized behind him, in order to take him by surprise.

She didn't have the possibility to do anything, because the moment she appeared behind the guard, his elbow shot out and connected with her face painfully. Ryoko grunted, put a hand to her face and quickly retreated a few steps.

Now this was really unexpected.

As the pain subsided Ryoko glared at her opponent, her eyes burning.

"You know, you are really starting to get on my nerves!"

Again, the man was not impressed by her words and appearance and remained standing calmly in front of her.

Ryoko charged at him again. This time she covered the distance between them by flying and she used the full force of her approach in a single punch. The guardsman caught her fist and as a result was pushed back on his feet.

Eventually he managed to stop her with great effort and Ryoko had to bring her feet to the ground again too, for better support. She noticed that she had her other hand free and tried to land a blow again, only to have her hand caught one more time.

They stood there for a few moments, silently struggling against each other with all their might, until Ryoko brought her knee up into the lower region of her opponent. It was the first time she got a reaction out of him, which indicated that he was in fact a male.

He let go off her hands and doubled over, bringing his hands to the point where she had hit him. Ryoko used the chance, folded her hands and brought them down on his back with all her strength. The man remained standing and she had to repeat the procedure two more times until he finally collapsed.

The pirate stood over the unconscious guard breathing heavily.

"That's what you get for messing around with me."

She was about to examine his body, when he demonstrated that he wasn't as unconscious as Ryoko had first thought.

He pushed himself up to one knee, suppressing his pain and reached into a bag of his uniform. Ryoko was too surprised at his toughness, as to strike him down once and for all. The man's hand came out of his bag holding a ingenious carved handle, that seemed kind of familiar to Ryoko.

He stood up completely, changed into another stance and activated his light sword. The pitch black blade came to life with a sharp hiss.

Ryoko's confusion increased as she remembered who it was, that used to carry such a weapon, but she had no time to think about it any further because the man charged at her with a battle cry. Immediately she formed her own light sword in order to block his blade.

Soon they were engaged in vicious combat again, only this time every mistake could result in instant death. In spite of that and the fact that they were both already quite exhausted the battle dragged on.

Ryoko had just parried another strike from her opponent and retreated a few steps as he suddenly screamed and whirled his blade around. The pirate realized his intention too late and was hit by the wave of dark energy produced by his blade. She was lifted off her feet and thrown backwards into the direction of the tunnel wall, where she would have impacted painfully hard at her constant pace.

However just before the wave that had caught her hit the wall she teleported away. Her opponent, who still thought he had finally gotten her, didn't notice her phasing in behind him.

Before he got the chance to discover his mistake, Ryoko brought her hand up and fired an energy blast at him. Meanwhile she had grown pretty sure that this man had the ability to generate a force field by himself, but since he didn't expect an attack the blast hit him in the back with full force, leaving a huge part of it and his shoulder burned. The man grunted and broke to his knees.

"I see, still the same old Ryoko," were his last words before he collapsed completely.

Ryoko approached his unmoving form and felt his pulse, to find out that he was still alive and if her suspicion about his identity was right she knew he would recover from this wound on his own.

Carefully she removed his helmet and found herself proven correct. The man who had given her such a good fight was her former partner that was now her archrival. The outlawed Juraian Royal Kagato.

* * *

As the door closed behind him, Tenchi sighed with relief. He actually seemed to be on the lucky side for once. The rather huge bright room was split into two parts by a partition, but no sounds could be heard, neither from the toilets nor from the wash room.

Tenchi knew that this toilet idea of his would get him twenty minutes more time at most. So he had to find a way to get out of the building as fast as possible.

His gaze locked onto the long front of frosted glass, which concluded the wash room on the opposite end. If he was to succeed in opening this huge window...

Quickly Tenchi hurried past the water filled basins and tried to find some kind of lever, that would open up his escape route.

Of course he didn't find it. A low curse came over his lips.

He kept standing undecided for another second, then Tenchi ran to the other side of the partition and froze.

He had hoped to find a smaller window with an obvious opening mechanism here, but instead he found himself staring at a wall, which was painted with what on the first look seemed like random lines of orange and cyan.

Only as he took a closer look, Tenchi realized that the daubing represented a woman. He was even kind of positive that he had seen her somewhere before, but he wasn't in the mood to waste his precious time by searching his memory now. Instead he returned to the wash room and stepped up to the huge window one more time.

"There must be a way to open this up," he murmured and let his fingers slid over the glass.

At first he thought to brush over a plain surface, but then he suddenly felt a small rise. As soon as his fingers made contact with the uneven spot, a faint hiss could be heard. Tenchi looked up in surprise and caught a glimpse of a square part of the window near the ceiling sliding to the side, enabling him to see the orange dome of the complex.

"Wow."

Tenchi had no idea why the Juraians hid their window opening mechanisms like this, but he actually didn't care too much. Right now what was important was that he had discovered a way outside.

A way which would turn out a little difficult to take. The opening was located fairly ten feet above his head.

Tenchi looked around, but as he had feared there was no moveable utility that he could have used for climbing. The only thing that had an acceptable distance to the window was the last water filled basin. With suspicion Tenchi inspected the wooden construction.

In case his weight was too much for it, he would experience the most embarrassing moment in his entire life in a few seconds. The moment where the whole Juraian guard would stand in the door, looking down at an Admiral who was covered in wooden splinters and soaked to the skin babbling something about washing his hands.

But there was no alternative, so Tenchi instantly got at climbing the wash basin. Not an easy task, since he tried to avoid coming in contact with the wet element. However, after the third failed attempt to find hold on the dry rim of the basin, Tenchi just stepped right into the water with his right leg and heaved himself up. For a moment he expected the basin to break down, but except from the water draining out without obvious reason nothing happened. Tenchi awkwardly turned to face the window and found again that it wasn't impossible to master the jump over to the open area.

He placed his right foot on the edge, with his weight still resting in the middle of the basin, but now on his other, dry boot. He felt only a little silly as he noticed that the wooden construct was slowly filling with water again, which now found it's way into his left boot too. But his escape was more than worth a pair of wet feet.

Tenchi concentrated for a moment, swung his arms and pushed himself off with all his might. His fingers slid through the air and caught a hold of the lower edge of the opening. He had a hard time suppressing a scream as his body crashed against the hard glass forcefully and the next moment all of his weight pulled at his hands. His face contorted with pain, Tenchi hung at the window front and fought the impulse of just letting go.

"Come on," he pressed through his clenched teeth. "You have to catch Ryoko."

He flexed his arm muscles and after some struggling pulled himself up a bit. At the academy they had done such exercises all the time and Tenchi had never fallen under the unathletic category, but the two years without training were showing now.

"I... have... to... make... it."

Tenchi felt the strain pumping the blood into his head, but he knew that he wouldn't have the strength for another try.

Somehow he actually managed to get his eyes at the same level as the opening. A small park without guards stretched over his field of view.

Endless seconds later Tenchi slowly let himself down on the other side of the window. A muffled sound told that his feet were on solid ground again. Tenchi turned, crouched down for better cover and massaged his hand absentmindedly.

The first step was done. Now he only had to find Ryoko without being discovered, persuade her into coming with him and disappear again without being noticed.

Unfortunately there were a few problems. First he didn't know where Ryoko was at the moment, second even if he was to meet her by coincidence, she would certainly be far superior to him in combat and third Commander Genousar probably eagerly awaited the arrival of the Admiral already.

Tenchi asked himself how Trake had managed to talk him into such a suicide mission. But he was long past the point of no return. Now he had to pull this through as well as possible.

Tenchi got up and made a few steps into a northern direction. He had just left the window area as he discovered the guardsman.

If the man in the bright blue uniform hadn't lain in such a grotesque position on the ground, Tenchi possibly would have thought he was just sleeping. But from the way the guard was positioned the meaning was obvious.

"Ryoko was here."

Growing hope and sobering bitterness accompanied his words. So Trake had spoken the truth. Ryoko was here and she would probably try to steal the book, in case she hadn't already done it. Anyway, her first victim lay directly before Tenchi's feet.

A faint moaning lifted him out of his thoughts. Tenchi held his breath and stared at the still unmoving body in shock.

'He's awakening,' it coursed through his head. And actually the man slowly moved his arms and tried to get up.

'Oh no.' Panic washed over Tenchi's mind and made it impossible for him to have a clear thought. The man had already succeeded in propping up on his elbows and was now shaking his head groggily.

Finally Tenchi snapped out of his paralysis, folded his hands, raised them up and hit the guardsman in the back with all his strength. With another faint moan the man sank to the ground, unconscious again.

"Whew, that was close."

Tenchi watched the steady breathing of the man for another moment, then he passed him by.

He hadn't done five steps as he stopped and turned back one more time. He had a strange idea.

Only a few minutes later he had undressed the guardsman and looked himself down with some satisfaction. The boots were a little oversized, but the blue Jurai uniform was a perfect fit. He had deposited his own clothes near the unconscious body, since if someone found him there, the situation would be pretty obvious anyway.

Tenchi grabbed the helmet, put it over the head and smiled. If he didn't behave too clumsily, he should be able to inspect the area freely without causing instant suspicion.

* * *

While she carefully hovered down the tunnel, Ryoko's mind was still occupied with her recent encounter with Kagato. It was a really odd coincidence that she would meet her former partner in a place that was supposed to make it absolutely impossible for thieves to sneak in. There seemed to be a lot of people who wanted to get their hands on this book and obviously uncounted years without an incidence had made the Juraians grow weary with guarding their holy treasure. She wasn't too surprised that Kagato had been able to get in, but what disturbed her was the fact that he was here at all.

This could only mean that either there was a third party involved or that one of her customers didn't trust her. And Ryoko hated to be distrusted. She was going to have to keep her eyes and ears open, if she wanted to find out what was going on here, because it was apparent that there was more to this whole thing than there seemed to be.

There was a change in the tunnel in front of her and Ryoko ceased her thinking in order to concentrate on what was awaiting her.

Soon she reached an intersection with another tunnel, which was slightly bent to the left in one direction and to the right in the other. Ryoko suspected that it was a circle pathway and taking into consideration the intertwined barrier of what seemed like the roots of a tree in front of her, she also knew what it was circling around.

Her strong sense of orientation shoved off any last doubts she may have had. Although underground, she was standing directly in front of the holy shrine. Now she only had to get in there, grab the book and find a way to get out of the complex again. It didn't seem too difficult at all.

She was grinning like a little girl before Christmas as she made her way over to what would possibly be the last obstacle that separated her from accomplishing the greatest coup of all times.

The anticipation on her face was replaced by an expression of contemplation as she stopped directly in front of the wooden barrier.

Over the years she had learned that when dealing with the Juraians, trees being involved in defensive or offensive systems always meant lots of trouble. If she made a mistake now, all could have been for naught.

The first thing that came to her mind was touching the structure, in order to see if she could force her way through with brute strength, but for once she did not just do what first came to her mind, there was too much at stake here. It was possible and likely that someone would take notice of her violating the system and being surrounded by a hundred Juraian soldiers wouldn't exactly help her to steal the book and leave the base unharmed. No, before she started using aggressive tactics, she first had to try the stealthy ones.

She vanished, trying to just teleport through the barrier, but only to reappear in the same spot the next instant.

'They have made this really proof,' Ryoko noted mentally.

So the wall seemed to have some kind of teleport blocker. She was just about to take the risk and try phasing through it as she heard footsteps and voices coming from the tunnel to her left.

Quickly she phased back into the entrance of the tunnel she had come from. It was then that an idea came to her. Why not just have one of the guards open this up for her? It was probably the best bet if she wanted to stay undiscovered.

"Of course it's great for you to get off this wretched dust ball, but still it is not fair. I mean why are you transferred to the royal guard and I have to stay in the middle of nowhere. What have I done wrong?"

Ryoko could overhear the conversation as the guards came closer.

"You just have to be better in your job," another voice replied with a hint of gloat.

"Why, you!!"

Ryoko decided that this was as good a moment to act as any and made a step out of her cover. She could see the guard who had just spoken punch his colleague in the side playfully, who then turned his attention to him in order to counterattack. The both missed out on Ryoko's presence and started a little struggle that the pirate could only watch in awe.

The guards in this place really seemed to seriously suffer from underemployment. But she was going to change this soon.

As the guards kept refusing to acknowledge her presence, Ryoko felt obligated to act.

"Hey guys!" she called out loud enough to get the attention of the guards.

They stopped their struggle and turned in her direction, both of them still grinning like fools.

However, their expression changed as they realized who was standing just about twenty feet in front of them.

"Holy shit!!" the one on the left exclaimed and started fumbling around with his belt, trying to take out his communicator.

The other one had already pointed his blaster at her and started blasting away without second thought.

Ryoko put her shield up and the blasts were deflected, but that didn't keep the guard from going on with firing at her, a grim expression on his face.

Meanwhile the left one had managed to pull out his communicator and was just about to activate it, as Ryoko pointed a finger at him and vaporized the small piece of technology with a red beam of light. Before he could mutter a curse the pirate appeared next to him and delivered a punch to his guts. The guard sounded his displeasure about this with a grunt and then collapsed to the ground.

Ryoko turned around to face the other guardsman, who had meanwhile stopped firing at her and was about to take out his own communicator.

"I wouldn't do that," she advised him, pointing her light sword at his throat.

The man slowly took his hands from the communicator at his belt. The pirate nodded in approval. Then she made a gesture with her head to the wooden barrier behind her.

"And now you are going to open this up for me," she demanded.

The guard paled visibly, but he still managed to keep his voice firm as he spoke. "Never, I would rather die than help a pirate like you to get her filthy hands on the holy book."

Ryoko's expression hardened.

"Wrong answer," she said and hit the man in the face with her left fist.

She did not punch him too hard, but still hard enough to considerably lower his anticipation for more.

"Listen buddy, there are only two options for you right now. Either you open this up, or I'm going to show you what interesting things this energy sword can do to the human body without killing it," she said in her most menacing voice.

The guard lost even more color and Ryoko could watch his inner resistance shatter as she moved her sword away from his throat and over his right shoulder.

"The barrier can only be opened from the control center, there is nothing I can do," he told her, now with obvious fright in his voice.

Ryoko cursed inwardly. This wasn't turning out as easy as she had hoped, but now that she had started this whole thing she was going to go through with it to the very end.

"But there is something you can do," she said, motioning towards his communicator. "Ask them to open it up."

The man's gaze became even more terrified, but he did not make an attempt to remove the communicator from his belt.

"Do it now, or I will start making an abstract sculpture out of you."

That worked, the man took the communicator ever so slowly and raised it to his head.

"And you better don't try any tricks, since I will have enough time to make you dearly regret it before they arrive here."

The man nodded, his head covered in sweat by now and activated the communicator.

"Patrol team seven to control center," he called.

There was a crackling in the small apparatus and another voice could be heard.

"This is control center. What is it patrol team seven?"

The man hesitated a moment, obviously searching for the right way to go at this.

"I... request permission to enter the holy shrine," he finally said.

"Why is this? Is there something wrong?" the voice asked with a hint of worry.

"No, no," replied the guard a bit too hasty. "It's just that... we thought we heard a sound from within and we... wanted to investigate."

"Are you sure that everything is alright, or should I set off the alarm?"

The sweat was pouring down the man's forehead in streams by now.

"No... it's probably nothing... we just want to make sure."

"All right, I will open up. You have five minutes. Report back if you discover any suspicious activity. Control center out."

The communicator crackled again and then became silent.

The next instant there was a motion behind them and as she took a look Ryoko found the roots that made up the barrier slowly retreating into the ground and ceiling. Soon every trace of the former obstacle was gone.

She cast a smile at the still terrified guardsman in front of her.

"Thanks, but you don't look so good. Better take a nap now."

Before he had any chance to react, the guy was carried over into the realm of unconsciousness in the same manner as his colleague before.

Ryoko extinguished her sword and hurried over to the new opening. She had been extremely lucky with the guy, because she knew that some Juraians were too loyal to their empire for her to be able to have pulled something like that off successfully.

She didn't bother to hide the bodies, because she had messed around too much already anyway and her time was running short. But that didn't matter to her anymore, as she was on her way to the holy shrine and soon she would hold the holy book in her hands.

* * *

Chapter notes:

As I promised with this chapter Tamrin is back again. She wrote almost all of it and the only parts that are from me are the two later scenes envolving Ryoko.

Writing the fight between Ryoko and Kagato was one of the things I enjoyed the most in the entire story up to now, but of course it is your opinion that I would like to hear.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that everything is clear by now. If I did it right, you are still in for some surprises with the next chapter.

Great thanks to Geor-sama, for smoothing things out some more.


	6. Guardsman Henry

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of their original creators and all those affiliated with them. I have neither created them, nor do I own them. Any new characters as well as the events within this story are created by me and my sister, so they are our property. This story is written for fun and as an homage to the world of Tenchi.

* * *

Chapter 5 - Guardsman Henry

Kagato regained his consciousness with a groan. For a second he was disoriented, but his situation sank in on him again almost instantly. He was still deep inside of the moon base alpha, where the holy book was kept.

As was Ryoko.

An encounter with his former partner was one of the very few things he hadn't expected down here.

So the holy book was a demanded item now. He would do some research about this once he was in possession of the book. Unfortunately with the recent turn of events it would be a little longer until it came to that.

He had given his best and he had been defeated, he felt no shame in admitting this to himself. The only way he would probably earn shame in addition to his defeat was if he tried to go after Ryoko and stop her from getting the book. His extended senses told him that he had been unconscious for at least ten to fifteen minutes. He was actually quite surprised that Ryoko had been able to get in here without drawing attention, such things had never been her strong point, but he knew that she wouldn't be able to keep this up forever. Eventually hell would break lose on the base, it was only a matter of time.

He readjusted his helmet and got to his feet, causing a burning pain in his back and right shoulder. The pain was strong enough to make a normal human scream in agony, but it seemed to be lost on Kagato. His face without the slightest expression, he straightened up completely and started walking in the direction of where he had entered the tunnel.

Ryoko had made a mistake in not finishing him off completely. As long as he remained alive he had only lost a battle, but not the war. Actually it was even better if Ryoko got the book out of here for him. Had he known that she was after it too, he wouldn't have made the effort of sneaking into the base by himself. From the way things looked like he was pretty confident that she would succeed in stealing the book.

Despite the pain, the stoic expression on his face changed into one of satisfaction. All he needed to do now, was to get out of here and wait for Ryoko to bring the book. It would at least be a little easier to take it from her than to take it out of a secured moon base that was guarded round the clock.

He had almost reached the end of the tunnel, as he heard a commotion in front of him.

This wasn't good. He had to be extremely careful in a fight with his injury.

However, Kagato did not have too much time to prepare himself, as a group of three guardsmen showed up in front of him.

For a moment the pirate toyed with the thought of taking them by surprise, but then he decided against it. He was still wearing a Juraian uniform and maybe he would be able to avoid the fight.

Finally one of the guards got over his initial surprise of meeting someone down here.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" he asked with suspicion.

Kagato knew that the soldiers weren't authorized to enter the tunnels alone. In order to grant high security they were only allowed to travel in groups of two or more. His mere presence caused suspicion. It seemed that it wasn't possible to avoid the fight.

The pirate was about to draw his light sword, when he noticed the expressions of utter horror on the other guardsmen's faces. He stopped his movement as one of them tapped the one who had spoken on the shoulder. He wanted to see what was going to happen before acting.

"Uhm... Ray, look at his shoulder," Ray was advised by his colleague.

The Juraian forgot some of his suspicion at this comment and took a closer look at Kagato. The pirate let it happen without moving, he had a feeling that something was going on here and maybe it would leave him with an advantage.

As the guard discovered his apparently mortal injury, his face took the same expression as the ones of the others.

"It can't be..." he whispered while slowly retreating.

"The story tells that Henry was found dead in the tunnels one day, his back burned by energy fire," another one added in a similar low voice.

Kagato started to get an idea of what was going on here, but he still didn't move.

"You know what I'm thinking guys?" the third of the Juraians asked with urgency in his voice.

The others nodded.

"We better get out of here!!" they shouted as one, as they turned to run back into the direction they had come from.

All the time Kagato had done nothing, not even moved. He was relieved that he still seemed to have what it took. People were running from him because of his mere presence. He chuckled and resumed his way after the frightened guards towards the exit of the tunnel.

* * *

Tenchi reached the end of the building and, despite his disguise, took a careful look around the edge first. Two guardsmen walked down the pathway. He waited until they were out of sight and then stepped out of the shadow of the wooden building with determination.

For a moment he looked around undecided. Assuming that this whole complex served the purpose of securing the holy book, it was only logical that it would be kept in the center. So Tenchi followed the way in an eastern direction.

Suddenly he heard someone whistle behind him. He just continued on his way, hoping that the signal wasn't addressed at him.

But as there was another whistle followed by the words, "Hey you, wait a second!", Tenchi found himself forced to stop anyway.

Hesitantly he turned around and saw a blue uniformed guardsman without helmet walking towards him.

Tenchi gulped. He had no idea how the man had managed to see through his disguise that fast. But he couldn't risk a fight with the man now, because he could see four more soldiers coming out of a building behind the Juraian. Two of them left in a western direction, but the other two stopped and looked over at him.

"Hey guy."

Tenchi relaxed a little as the guardsman didn't draw his blaster instantly and hit him on the shoulder in a friendly gesture instead.

"Have some time? Our fourth man is missing, you know."

Tenchi was left completely in the dark as about what the man was talking.

"Time for what?" he asked confused.

"Playing cards of course. Come on." The big man made an inviting movement with his head into the direction of his waiting colleagues.

"Sorry, but I'm on duty and quite busy right now." His voice was surprisingly clear and confident, obviously enough to even convince the guardsman.

"Well, so where are you headed?" he asked with some disappointment.

"The holy shrine." Tenchi told the truth, hoping that it wouldn't fall back on him somehow.

But his doubts were scattered as the guardsman looked to the center of the complex and nodded.

"So you are part of the relief team." Suddenly a smile appeared on his face. "In case you meet Soka or Dick, tell them that we are waiting in the recreation room, okay?!"

"Okay." Tenchi made a goodbye gesture and resumed his way.

Every step he got between himself and the guardsman made him feel a little better. The short conversation had proved that his disguise was quite convincing, but still he was going to try and avoid such confrontations from now on.

However, he instantly realized that this would be impossible as he turned north with the pathway and his gaze discovered a huge square construction. Four guardsman were patrolling around the building and about six were just standing in front of it. Most of them were engrossed in conversations and didn't pay much attention to the approaching figure. But Tenchi knew that he couldn't just pass them by and enter the holy shrine. This was first of all because he couldn't even make out an entrance.

For a moment he played with the thought of walking round the building, but this would probably have caught the attention of the guards. So he just stepped up to a single older guardsman. But before he could even mumble a greeting, the man already raised his voice.

"You are a newbie, that's obvious. Just transferred from Jurai, eh?"

Something in the voice of the older man made Tenchi feel uneasy.

"Yes," he answered, feeling the piercing glance of the guardsman, although he couldn't see his eyes through the visor.

As the silence became unpleasant, Tenchi decided to take a risk.

"I'm looking for Dick and Soka. Have you seen one of them?"

"Dick? Soka? I know a lot of people but I've never heard of them." The man raised his voice in volume, catching the attention of all the others around. "Do you think you can fool me, or what?!"

"Uhm... no..." All eyes fixed on him, Tenchi felt very uncomfortable.

"Then apologize for your rude behavior, boy." The old soldier said in an imperious tone.

Tenchi hesitated.

There was total silence for a second, then another man spoke up.

"Stop teasing him, Granor. And you, new one, just ignore his senseless talking. Come to us if you want to get some useful information."

As Tenchi walked over to the little group from which the young man had spoken, Granor mumbled some more disparaging comments, but nobody paid attention anymore.

"I'm Dick. Soka is patrolling inside. So why are you searching for us?"

Tenchi had the feeling that he was jumping out of the frying pan into the fire, but he had to follow this through now.

"Actually I have a message for Soka. Someone told me that he was with you, but... that was wrong, I suppose."

"Yeah, as I told you, he's inside. But since my presence here is not really necessary, I'll take you to him."

Tenchi closed his eyes. The last thing he needed now was a permanent companion. However, Dick already walked to the wooden front of the building, leaving Tenchi no choice but to follow him.

Dick murmured something into his communicator and suddenly an entrance appeared out of nowhere. The young guardsman turned around and called out to the others of his group that he would be back in a few minutes. In the meantime Tenchi entered the holy shrine with a wide smile on his face.

Inside it was so dark, that Tenchi couldn't see much more than a narrow pathway at first. But his eyes got used to the insufficient lighting rather quickly and he noticed that the wooden walls were of the corridor were totally blank.

Walking beside the guy named Dick, Tenchi hoped that he would be able to avoid any kind of conversation. But Dick seemed to be too curious as for Tenchi to have success in this course of action.

"So you're a newbie? What do you think of our little fortress?"

"Well, I've heard that it's actually impossible to break in," Tenchi answered in an evasive way.

"Yeah," Dick laughed. "That's what everyone is thinking. Even the space pirates wouldn't dare and try stealing the book."

Tenchi knew that he was totally wrong, but of course he remained silent.

Suddenly Dick stopped and brushed his hand over the seemingly smooth surface of the wall.

"Right here, for example, two armed soldiers should guard the lift."

"Then where..."

Tenchi broke his question, as a strange creaking became audible. Shortly after the wall in front of him seemed to vanish into thin air and like that, allowed access to a small oval chamber.

"Outside. Probably having fun with their comrades," Dick casually answered the unspoken question and motioned for Tenchi to step inside.

As soon as both young guardsman were standing inside, the lift started moving downwards.

"Wanna know a secret? Of course you will come to the same conclusion in a few weeks, but nevertheless there's nothing that keeps me from telling you right now." He made a short break and continued in a sad tone. "It's boring."

The lift stopped and where just had been nothing but a wooden wall, they now stepped out into a circle winding tunnel. Tenchi walked up besides Dick.

"Where are we?", he asked.

"These are the old tunnels, the only way to access the holy book. It is told, they were build by ancient people." Dick shrugged. "In any case, they are very old."

He walked off into a western direction.

"Soka is patrolling down here." He made a gesture down the tunnel. "By the way, what do you want to tell him?"

"Uhm... sorry, but it's a private message." Tenchi answered quickly.

But Dick was obviously not about to give up that easily.

"Come on, he's my friend, you can tell me."

"No."

Suddenly Dick stopped and looked directly into Tenchi's eyes. At least that was Tenchi's first impression, but he knew, that Dick couldn't see his face through the darkened visor. Still, Tenchi felt quite uncomfortable under his gaze.

"The others are waiting. I have go back now. Just keep following the corridor." With these icy words Dick turned his back to Tenchi and walked away.

"Thank you," Tenchi called after him, but the other man only made a dismissive gesture.

He had no idea that by leaving him alone in the tunnels, Dick intended to cause him a lot of trouble.

But Tenchi had no intention of meeting the other guardsmen anyway. He was glad that he had gotten rid of Dick that easily and resumed his way down the tunnel quickly. Ryoko was already inside the complex and in case he was still on the lucky side, the space pirate probably hadn't left with the book already.

Tenchi quickened his pace, trying to hear another sound beside the ones of his own footsteps. But there was absolutely nothing. He wondered if Soka had left his post too.

A few seconds later he found him.

There were two unconscious guardsmen lying near an intersection, with the tunnel opening to the right looking some what suspicious. One of them had to be Soka without doubt.

Tenchi carefully stepped past the two knocked out soldiers. Only ten feet separated him from the intersection as some kind of roots started to grow out of the bottom and the top of the opening to the right, slowly closing it.

Tenchi fought down the initial impulse to just run inside. Perhaps Ryoko wasn't in there anymore. In this case the opening would most likely lead him directly into a trap.

Suddenly he heard a shattering sound from inside and that was all he needed to make up his mind. He dashed for what was left of the entrance and jumped through without hesitation.

* * *

"Well, he has entered the building twenty minutes ago."

Although Marlak sat some feet away, he could still hear Genousar's shouting through the communicator. The irritated voice of the Commander made him slump in his chair, but Ajin remained calm.

"I don't know either, but I will check on it. Ajin out."

"There's something wrong, isn't it?" Mike asked, an alarmed expression on his face.

"Nothing to worry about," his friend answered. "Genousar is just becoming a little impatient about the admiral."

"But..."

"Yeah. I know what you're going to say." Ajin slowly walked to the door. "And I'm gonna talk to the responsible guardsman while you will stay here."

At these last words he turned around one more time and gave Marlak a serious look.

"Understood," the young Officer murmured.

But as horrible scenarios took shape in his head, he couldn't restrain himself from shouting at his leaving colleague.

"Ajin! I will activate the alarm!"

"No, not until we're positive that the admiral is missing."

"But he..." Mike wasn't given any more chance to voice his doubts, because the door had already closed behind his colleague.

Ajin didn't have to search for the guardsman. He stood right beside the door to the Commander's office. When he was beckoned by the superior Officer, he quickly left his sentry and hurried along the corridor.

"Officer Ajin?!" The man stood at attention.

"What do you think you are doing here?" Ajin asked in a casual voice.

"I'm waiting for Admiral Marunak."

"Hm." Ajin nodded. "I thought I instructed you to lead him to Commander Genousar."

"Yes, sir."

"So why isn't he with you?"

For the first time in this short conversation the guardsman lowered his voice. "He wanted to go to the toilet and I thought it would be inappropriate to escort him."

Ajin crossed his arms in front of his chest and his look drifted into the distance for a few seconds, then he fixed his eyes on the guardsman again.

"Don't you think it's suspicious when a man spends nearly half an hour on the toilet?"

"Oh... well... perhaps he... he..." The man stopped as he noticed the slightly amused expression on the face of the Officer.

"It is suspicious." Ajin became serious. "And that's why we'll take a look at the toilet. Come on."

--

Mike Marlak was checking the interior of the complex already for some minutes now. But everything seemed to be in perfect order. The active Vidlogs provided him with pictures of guardsmen patrolling lazy on wide pathways, talking to each other, playing cards in the park or just sleeping on the ground - nothing unusual indeed.

But Marlak knew that this could only be the quiet before the storm. Right from the beginning it had been obvious that this Admiral Marunak had other intentions than meeting the Commander. A true admiral would never arrive in a shabby space ship like the one of the guy.

The young man sighed. He shouldn't have accepted Ajin just letting this imposter pass. But it was too late for remorse now. Marlak was quite confident that the missing man was about to steal the holy treasure. Hell could break loose every second.

'Maybe he will try to bomb his way into the holy shrine.' The five men patrolling inside and all guardsmen standing at the entrance would be killed. And Ajin had forbidden him to set off the alarm. Marlak had to suppress a crazy laugh but instantly became deadly serious again as he remembered the request of patrol team seven from some minutes ago. Neither Ajin, nor he himself had paid much attention to it, because such things were supposed to happen from time to time, but now, with the current situation, another horrifying thought came to his mind.

Maybe somebody had already entered the holy vault.

However, before he could think any more about the possible dangers down there a strange noise awoke his attention. It sounded like a low scream from outside. In a rush Marlak had some Vidlogs observing the area. Although he forced himself to remain calm, his fingers trembled slightly as he typed the commands.

Some seconds later he let out his breath in relief. Except from an Officer just entering the building the Vidlogs didn't show any activity near the control center.

"Just my nerves," Mike murmured and closed his eyes.

Suddenly an idea occurred to him. Ajin didn't want him to give alarm and there was no obvious reason that would allow him to go against the order, but he could at least warn the guardsmen. He activated his communicator.

"Hi, Dick. This is Mike. Are you alright over there?"

"Yeah, of course. What's with the question?" the voice of the leader of guard could be heard.

"Well, in case you notice something suspicious..."

"... like a disguised space pirate, carrying an oversized plasma blaster?" Dick laughed.

"No," Mike said, a little annoyed. "This time we are in real danger..." But again he was interrupted.

"Paranoia is an illness, you know. Perhaps you should visit a doctor or at least take some days off."

The young officer never got the chance to answer. Feeling a draft of air from behind him he turned around and his eyes widened in terror. A bleeding Officer stood hardly five feet away, an ignited black light sword in his hand.

"No," was the last word Mike Marlak could whisper before the glowing blade pierced his body.

--

Although he knew that it would be unnecessary, Ajin pulled out his blaster before entering the toilet. The guardsman followed him with great caution.

"What's that supposed to be?" A man standing on one of the washbowls looked at them in surprise.

"Don't mind us." Ajin lowered his blaster. "We are just searching for someone."

A silly smile crept onto the face of the guard.

"Now don't tell me you're chasing Henry too. Hell, has the entire base gone crazy? Just because some idiots claim to have seen him today the whole alpha-base personal is going to chase him?" He dried his hands at his uniform as he continued. "I thought at least you officers wouldn't be so childish to believe in ghosts. But obviously I was wrong." A single laugh escaped his throat, making it sound like a bark. "Searching for the legendary guardsman in the toilets is so..."

"Enough." Ajin said in a calm but sharp voice and the other man became silent immediately.

The superior Officer had examined the washroom intently and paid almost no attention to the disturbing monolog of the guardsman up to now. He was a man of great patience, but the stupid babbling was beginning to get on his nerves.

"There are three things you should know. First, it seems you have forgotten how to talk to a superior. Second, your opinion about the things we do or believe is of absolutely no importance. And third, we are not searching for the legendary guardsman."

The man lasted only a few seconds under Ajin's gaze, then he lowered his head.

"So have you seen a man in a shabby space police outfit?" Ajin's voice became friendlier again, but nevertheless the guardsman still avoided looking at him.

"No, sir," he said, grabbed his helmet and hurried away.

Ajin shook his head slowly and smiled.

"Seems the admiral does not want to meet Genousar," he said, with his finger pointing at the open window.

"But sir," his companion started, but stopped again as he came to realize that it was inappropriate to oppose his superior.

The officer looked at him without expression.

"You don't think so? Then go take a look at the toilets. You won't find him there and that means that he got away."

"Yes, sir," the guardsman replied loudly, not moving an inch.

"Well then, we have to extend our search."

Ajin pulled out his communicator and activated the device in slow motion.

"Marlak. This is Ajin. You are allowed to set off the alarm now."

Nobody answered.

"Hey Mike, come on."

"This is strange," Ajin murmured with some concern, after a few seconds of absolute silence had passed. Aloud he said calmly, "I will activate the alarm by myself while you are going to inform Commander Genousar that Admiral Marunak is missing."

The guardsman nodded, but Ajin knew that it was an unpleasant task to bring bad news to the Commander. That was why he had no intention to do it himself.

"Let's go."

With these words, after he had taken a last look at the window, wondering what kind of mission this admiral-guy could have, they stepped out of the room.

Already after a few steps, Ajin had passed the guardsman and turned to the left, into the control room. The door opened as he stepped up to it and Ajin turned his nose up. A nasty smell greeted him as he entered. A smell he had only been confronted with a few times in his life before in this intensity.

"Blood," it shot through his mind.

Then he discovered Marlak. The boy was lying in front of his terminal, all tensed up. His blood covered the control panel, dripped to the floor and formed a small pool around his unmoving body.

"Mike!" Ajin shouted horrified and hurried over to his friend, hoping that his condition was better than it looked.

His fingers slid down the pale face of the young man, searching for the point beneath the jaw that would give him ultimate certainty. During the few seconds he needed to find the artery his thoughts raced inside his head. Who had done this to Mike? It could have only been the GP man. But why? Ajin had been told that he was harmless, otherwise he would have never agreed in giving him a landing permission without an identity check. The worst thing was that now the innocent, conscientious Mike had to pay for his own credulity. He had never expected this to happen, let alone wanted it.

A weak pulse could be felt under his fingertips. Although considering the bleeding wound in his upper body, this seemed almost impossible, Marlak was still alive. However, Ajin hadn't much hope that this condition would last for long as he activated his communicator and called for an ambulance team.

* * *

The space pirate Ryoko was only instants from holding the holy book of Jurai in her hands.

It had turned out that within the inner vault there hadn't been any security systems anymore. Obviously even the guards were not allowed to enter here. They probably thought that nobody would ever get so far, but their fatal mistake was that they hadn't taken her into consideration.

It was almost comical. After all the efforts they had put into raising the security of the complex, right here in the very center of it, where one of the most important treasures of the Juraian empire was kept, barely seemed to be any technology. This was probably because they were trying to keep the book safe from any outer influences, like the minor energy waves that were produced by most Juraian technology. There wasn't even a proper lighting, just a faint glow that seemed to have no definite source in the room.

All of this only made Ryoko feel even more excited. She had just shattered the glass-like case that protected the book without too much care and now she just stood there for a moment, savoring her upcoming success in this mission that nobody had accomplished before.

Although there still was the problem of leaving the complex with the book, Ryoko wasn't too worried. She knew that once she had the book in her hands she wasn't going to let any Juraian guardsmen take it from her again.

Finally prepared for the great moment she stretched out her hands and reached for the book.

She had almost touched it as she suddenly heard the sound of fast footsteps behind her.

With a curse she turned around, to be greeted by the sight of a single Juraian guard, who was obviously quite a little out of breath.

It was somewhat disturbing that in spite of the fact that one of the most dreaded space pirates was standing in front of him, about to steal one of the greatest treasures of his empire, he just remained in the entrance, his hands resting on his thighs, fighting for breath.

Despite the situation Ryoko was curious what was up with this guy, so instead of finishing him off right away she waited a second for him to recover.

Actually the guardsman regained his composure quite quickly. He straightened up and Ryoko could feel his gaze fixing on her. There was one more moment of anticipating silence and then he spoke up.

"Space pirate Ryoko, I hereby place you under arrest, for violating galaxy law on various occasions."

Ryoko was so shocked that her jaw dropped open. From all the things that he could have possibly said, this was probably the one that she had expected the less. Also from all the voices he could have spoken in, his she would have never dreamt to hear in a place like this.

"Tenchi? But how... how..." She wasn't able to continue as her mind raced to search for an explanation for this.

"You don't need to know this," Tenchi answered her unspoken question, not wanting to embarrass himself by describing the way he had gotten in here.

In fact he was even more surprised than Ryoko at how this mission had turned out. He had actually managed to confront the pirate and in midst the holy shrine of all places. Now he was standing in front of his nemesis one more time, trying to decide on how to proceed while keeping his rampant feelings in check. There was not only the problem of how to get Ryoko to follow him, but the one of how to escape from the moon at all. He had his doubts that it would be easy to reach the Yagami, especially with Ryoko in tow.

However, he decided that it was probably the best to concentrate on the matters at hand at first. But before he could do anything, suddenly Ryoko's expression brightened up and a knowing smile appeared on her face.

"I take it, you have gotten yourself a job as a guard of this place."

Tenchi's face fell at this comment, but there was no way for Ryoko to see, so she just continued in her theory.

"That's strange. I thought they would only accept true Juraians for this job. How did you talk them into hiring an ex-GP and wanted criminal?"

Tenchi did not know if she actually meant what she was saying or if she was just trying to tease him by playing down the achievement of him getting as far as she did. But that was of little importance for him now.

"Stop talking nonsense and step away from the book. I want to get out of here as fast as possible."

Although Ryoko had not really believed in her own theory, she was still a little dumbstruck at Tenchi's statement.

"So you are telling me that you sneaked in here only to prevent me from taking the book?" she said with a fair amount of doubt.

"I followed you here in order to prevent you from stealing anything anymore," Tenchi explained in his most confident voice.

To his growing discomfort however, Ryoko's shock seemed to be wearing off already, as an mildly amused expression appeared on her face.

"And just how are you going to do this?" she asked casually, not moving away from the book.

She had him there. Actually he had hoped to be able to take her by surprise, but the circumstances were unfortunate. He knew that he couldn't risk a fight in here and that was exactly what would happen if he provoked the pirate too much. However, he had to act now, or else all the efforts of getting into the base would have been in vain.

Under Ryoko's most interested gaze, he reached into one of the bags of his borrowed uniform, pulled out a middle sized blaster, removed the safety and pointed it at the pirate.

It took a moment for Ryoko to realize the nature of the weapon and as she did, she whistled in awe.

"Wow, a sonic blaster. These are extremely hard to get, especially because they are forbidden. You seem to be really getting into the pirate business by now."

While trying to not let her teasing get to him, Tenchi realized that the view of the blaster did not seem to have the hoped-for effect on her. But up to now he had grown to know the rules of their little game. The instant he showed weakness or indecision, he was lost, so he had to keep up his confident mask despite the situation.

"Step away from the book and slowly walk over there with your hands behind your head." Tenchi pointed into the direction of the tunnel through which he had entered the room.

As a reaction the mocking expression vanished from Ryoko's face and her eyes thinned dangerously. The voice in which she spoke her next words sent a chill down Tenchi's spine.

"You know I can't do that."

Tenchi gulped at seeing this new side of her, but he wasn't about to give in that easily.

"And I can't let you steal Jurai's holy treasure," he told her in a firm voice that surprised even himself.

"Seems like we have a major disagreement here."

Tenchi's attentive eye could see her tensing up while making this statement. Just as he expected things to get really messy, Ryoko's head suddenly jerked to the side and she grimaced.

"Damn it!" she cursed under her breath.

Tenchi had no idea what was going on.

"So are you giving up now?" he asked with a hint of confusion in his voice.

"Of course not, but we don't have any more time for this," she replied while grabbing the holy book without much care and storing it away in some dimensional pocket.

"Hey!" was all that came to Tenchi's mind.

"They have noticed us. The alarm went off all over the place."

Tenchi couldn't hear anything.

"But how would you know?" he asked with suspicion.

"I can hear it," Ryoko answered simply.

The pirate stepped up to the ex-officer, who hesitated with firing his blaster, because he knew that in case she was right, this would draw even more attention to them.

Ryoko stopped directly in front of Tenchi and stared into his eyes, making all of his confidence vanishing down the drain.

"I'm leaving now and I'm taking the book with me. You can either come along or stay here until they find you."

"I can't let you take the holy book."

Despite his defiant reply, Tenchi found himself lowering the blaster.

"Now don't be difficult. Come on!"

With these words she grabbed a completely surprised Tenchi's wrist and dragged him after her, as she stormed down the corridor towards the exit.

--

"Dead-end," Ryoko announced as they arrived in front of the massive wooden barrier, that blocked the entrance to the holy vault.

"So how did you open this up last time?" Tenchi asked, exhaustion and agitation mixing in his voice.

"Yeah well, there were those guards and... nah, forget it. They know that we are here anyway, so we can as well blow this up."

Tenchi instinctively took a step back as she released his wrist, stretched out her arms in front of her and started gathering energy in her hands. It turned out that stepping back had been a wise course of action as Ryoko released her attack and the entire front of the corridor exploded with a deafening roar.

Since they were in a tunnel, the smoke of the explosion cleared only slowly, but as it did, they were both quite surprised to find the barrier without even the slightest scratch.

"Impressive," Tenchi couldn't help but say.

Ryoko shot him a petrifying look and started to prepare for another onslaught.

It was then that Tenchi remembered the blaster he was still holding in his left hand. Without a second thought he aimed it at the barrier and fired, before Ryoko was able to let loose another blast.

The air between the blaster and the barrier seemed to distort for a moment and the next instant the wall of wood splintered in all directions, leaving a gaping hole.

Ryoko ceased her attack and looked at Tenchi and then at the blaster in his hands with a raised eyebrow.

"Remind me to always carry one of those with me when dealing with Juraians in the future."

Tenchi's only reaction was to remove the Juraian weapon from his belt and place the sonic blaster in the holster instead, in case the need to use it arose again.

"Well, let's go." The pirate grabbed Tenchi's wrist again and pulled him through the opening.

Once they were on the other side, even Tenchi could hear the commotion going on at the base. Shouts became audible from down one of the tunnels and then there was the sound of many fast footsteps, obviously approaching their position.

He looked down the tunnel and came to the conclusion that the guards could show up every second now. As he realized that Ryoko wasn't moving, he looked back at her and was shocked to find her grinning maliciously.

"Wanna rough them up a little?" she asked, barely able to contain her excitement.

"Hell, no!! Just get us out of here!!" Tenchi shouted in response, almost panicking at the thought of what might happen if the guards caught them there.

"Aw, why do you always have to be such a fun killer, Tenchi?" the pirate complained, but Tenchi only gave her a hard look.

"Alright, hold on tight."

Of course Tenchi did not follow this advice, since for his taste he was already much too close to Ryoko.

Just as he could see the first Juraian soldiers appearing around the bend of the tunnel, pointing at them, the world around him blurred out of existence.

* * *

Genousar was sitting in his favorite comfortable black armchair and tapped his fingers on it impatiently. Obviously it was necessary to give his officers another private lesson in discharge of duties. Especially Ajin seemed to be in need of one. His carelessness was getting out of hand lately. How could he consider it as "unimportant" to report the visit of a GP-Admiral to his superior?

Again, the gaze of the commander locked on the timer. Over five minutes ago he had ordered Ajin to escort the admiral to him, but up to now none of them had showed up.

Infuriated Genousar shook his head and muttered a curse into his beard. Was he surrounded only by incompetent people? He leaned over and was about to activate the communicator as the door opened.

"About time..." As he noticed that it was only a single guardsman who entered, he stopped his speech and continued in a gruffer voice. "Where is the Admiral?"

The guardsman hesitantly approached a few steps.

"We don't know, sir."

Genousar jumped out of his chair, smashed his hands on the desk and flashed at the guardsman furiously.

"What do you mean, you don't know where he is?"

"Well, sir, he said he had to go to the toilet and Officer Ajin thinks he climbed out of the window there."

"What?! Don't you dare try to fool me!"

Genousar stamped around his desk, into the direction of the fearfully retreating guardsman.

"If this is supposed to be part of some foolish game again..."

"No, sir. It's no game, I swear. Talk to Officer Ajin and he will tell you the same story."

Genousar stopped, closed his eyes slightly and nodded. "I was going to have a word with him anyway."

As soon as the two dissimilar men had stepped out into the corridor, a deafening wail started to emit from apparently everywhere and raised in volume.

"What the hell...?!" cursed the Commander and rushed into the direction of the control room.

While the guardsman used the opportunity to get away, Genousar stormed into the room, where he expected to find Ajin or at least some clarifications about the events of the past hour. And he was right in his expectation.

Ajin stood, with his back turned to him, in front of a terminal. His fingers were rushing over the keys with unusual haste. Whatever he was doing had to be of immense importance, but even if he had tried to save the planet Jurai from destruction right now, this wouldn't have kept Genousar from letting out his anger.

"Ajin! What the hell is going on here? What's the meaning of the alarm? Why..." His look fell on Marlak, whose deadly pale body was lying on the ground not two feet away from Ajin.

"What..." Genousar gulped. "What happened to him?"

Instantly all his anger was forgotten. Deep horrification and an ounce of compassion took it's place.

But before Ajin could answer the question three medics rushed into the room behind Genousar. One of them, a strong man in dark uniform, kneeled down at Marlak's side immediately.

"It looks like he was pierced by some kind of energy sword, Commander," he said after three seconds. "The stab missed his heart only be inches. Whether this can be called luck for this young guy or not we'll see."

Genousar nodded in silence and Marlak was taken out of the room carefully. But the doctor hesitated as he was standing in the door already and turned around one more time.

"Is this the doing of the guy everybody is looking for at the moment?"

Surprisingly it was Ajin who answered. "I fear yes."

After the door had closed with a faint hiss, the Commander stepped up to Ajin.

"I'm waiting for an explanation," he said impatiently.

"Well, while I was searching the toilet for this guy, he entered the building through the main entrance, disguised as a guardsman, and eliminated Mike and the outer shield." Ajin spoke this short summery of events as if it was a weather forecast, while he kept his concentration on the displays.

"What?!" was the only word Genousar could think of as a response. He felt a new wave of anger taking hold of him.

"Are you going to tell me that Admiral Marunak has only come here in order to kill an Officer and deactivate the shield? That would be a declaration of war from the GP to the Juraian empire... this makes absolutely no sense." He grabbed Ajin's shoulder and pulled him around roughly. "Damn it, what are you keeping from me?"

Ajin's face showed an unusual pale expression, but he still withstood the piercing gaze of the Commander.

"He wasn't the man we believed him to be. And now let me continue or the guy will escape."

Ajin just shook of the hand of his superior and turned to the terminal again.

Genousar didn't know what to say at so much cheek and before he could come up with a reply a communicator beeped.

"Ajin, as you feared the holy book was stolen. I saw the thieves. One was a guardsman, but other than you told me his uniform was that of a guard on patrol. The other one... you won't believe it... was the space pirate Ryoko."

Ajin exchanged a surprised look with his superior.

"I saw them only for a second before they disappeared, but they can't be far away and I've already told my men who we are up against here."

"Well done, Dick. I need five more minutes to restore the shield, so all you have to do is hold them up for so long. Then they will be captured anyway. Ajin out."

"Seems that the admiral-guy isn't our only problem." The Officer smiled at the Commander.

"Three intruders in one day. This has to be a nightmare." Totally stunned Genousar went over to another panel, typed some orders and looked at the dark monitor unappreciatively.

"Why aren't the Vidlogs operating?" he asked, only a little confused.

"He deactivated them. And since I think the outer shield is of more importance right now, I am trying to concentrate on restoring it first," Ajin explained. "It's more difficult than it should be. This guy proceeded really clever. To cut off all commando codes is..."

"Hurry up, they are escaping." Genousar pointed at one of the schematic screens, showing the lower layers of the moon's atmosphere. A small wooden object was lifting up quickly.

"Damn," Ajin cursed and redoubled his efforts.

Genousar stared at the screen, while the ship was constantly gaining height.

"Ajin!" he shouted impatiently.

The dark haired Officer didn't respond. He knew he would be unable to restore the shield within the next seconds, but he didn't want to scatter all hopes of his superior. So he remained silent and did his best.

As he had expected it wasn't enough.

"You've let them escape." Genousar murmured, totally worn out and sank into Marlak's chair.

"I'm sorry, sir," Ajin remarked casually but the Commander hadn't the energy left to get annoyed at it anymore.

He kept staring at the screen, which seemed to be frozen in place seconds after the wooden ship had passed the point where the shield should have stopped it.

"That wasn't the Souja," he said suddenly, surprised by his own discovery.

"I know," Ajin announced.

"But that means..." Genousar stood up with newfound confidence. "That means Ryoko and the holy book are still here."

"They are." Ajin pressed one final button. "And they will stay here."

* * *

Tenchi felt nauseous as they rematerialized. He hadn't known that teleportation was so confusing. However, he did not have the time to think about his physical condition for long.

"Ups..." he heard Ryoko exclaim next to him.

Fighting back the revolution in his guts, he tried to take in a little more of his surroundings. They were in the open now, obviously not too far from the building that was the holy shrine. But what was probably of more importance right now was the group of six Juraian soldiers with raised blasters in front of them.

They opened fire the same instant Tenchi took notice of them, so that he hadn't enough time to try and evade the attack. Fortunately the blasts were deflected by Ryoko's force field and Tenchi found himself within the protected area. He actually let out a small sigh of relief.

Of course this didn't last long as Ryoko suddenly vanished next to him. At the time he realized what exactly this meant for him, it was almost too late. He quickly leapt out of the fire line of the guards and rolled over his shoulder as he hit the ground. All the time blaster fire rained down on him, missing him only by inches. Obviously they could see through his disguise by now.

Once on his feet again, Tenchi swiftly drew his blaster and dashed for two of the soldiers that were nearest to him. Instead of firing the blaster, however, he slammed it over the head of the first guard, as this one was too surprised at Tenchi's sudden counterattack to avoid it.

Then Tenchi felt a motion behind him. He twisted his upper body to the right and the punch of the other soldier missed his neck, his fist hitting only the air to the left of his head. Tenchi took advantage of the situation. He grabbed the arm of the guard and used his leverage to throw him over his shoulder in one fluent motion. The man soared through the air a few feet and then hit the ground with a grunt, leaving him unconscious.

Tenchi quickly turned around to meet the remaining guardsmen, only to find them already neutralized by Ryoko. The pirate was grinning widely at him.

"Now wasn't that fun?" she asked.

"No, it wasn't," Tenchi answered simply.

He was a little relieved that at least Ryoko had confined herself on just knocking down the four guards. The last thing he needed now was to be seen with a most wanted space pirate, slaughtering guards at random.

As he scanned his surroundings for the first time, he found that the entire base was one big commotion. He could hear the security alarm clearly now and watch guardsmen running around in what almost seemed to be confusion to him. But what was most unusual, was the fact that despite the little battle they had performed, most of the guards didn't even take notice of them. Tenchi almost got the impression that they weren't searching for them at all.

"Strange..." he murmured.

"Just how long do you intend on standing around there?! In case you are not enjoying this, I suggest we get out of here."

As if triggered by her words, a group of soldiers suddenly began motioning towards them and a second later, they started to approach them, blasters drawn.

Ryoko appeared next to Tenchi and took hold of his hand one more time. The moment they teleported away, Tenchi realized that this whole situation wasn't going to turn out like he wanted it to.

--

After two more stops, one at the border of the complex and another one outside the orange dome, for Ryoko to reorient, they finally reached the Souja.

Before Tenchi had a chance to voice his disagreement, Ryoko teleported them inside.

As they arrived on the bridge, the pirate finally let go Tenchi's hand and instantly strode over to the pilot's chair.

"Now just wait a moment," was all Tenchi could think of to comment on this course of action. "What do you think you are doing. This is abduction of a Galaxy Police officer. Don't you think stealing the book will suffice for boosting your criminal record?"

Ryoko had meanwhile placed herself in the chair and now she turned around to face him again. Other than he had expected she had a very serious look on her face.

"Don't make a fool of yourself now, Tenchi. One, you are no GP anymore, and two, just where do you have your own ship and how do you think you would have gotten there without my help."

Tenchi realized that she had a point there.

"Well, I landed the Yagami directly on their space port."

Ryoko's eyes grew wide in surprise.

"What?! You are telling me they gave you landing permission?"

A slightly embarrassed smile forced it's way on Tenchi's face. "Yeah, I kind of fooled them into it."

Ryoko gave him a look that made it obvious just how much she believed in this story and turned around towards the navigation console again.

Tenchi used the opportunity to take a look around the bridge of the Souja. Somehow he had always imagined it a little more impressing. In size it was about double that of the Yagami's bridge, although there was obviously no direct use for the additional space. Probably there was an unwritten law around ship designers that said something like, the bigger the ship, the bigger the bridge.

The controls seemed to be very centralized around the pilot's station. There was also a co-pilot's chair, but it probably wasn't used too often and Tenchi wondered why Ryoko hadn't just removed it.

Except for a few parts that seemed a little worn down from recent damage, possibly from Tenchi's attack at the space station, the bridge was in very good condition. Obviously Ryoko was taking care of her ship.

As it became clear that he had no chance to escape this situation and that Ryoko wasn't making any aggressive moves for now, Tenchi walked over to the co-pilot's chair and seated himself. It was much more comfortable than his own back at the Yagami, but he hadn't much time to think about this, because the moment he sat down, the Souja lifted off.

"You know that they are going to mobilize the fleet," Tenchi stated in a tone that made it obvious that he still did not know which side to take.

"So what's the matter? Just let them come and try their luck," Ryoko replied with a confident grin.

Tenchi grimaced.

"We are talking about Juraian warships here. I don't think you can take on even one of them," he commented, without the slightest hint of emotion.

"We will see about this, but right now we have a more urgent problem," Ryoko said, while keeping her concentration on stirring the ship towards the upper atmosphere.

Her words triggered a memory in Tenchi's head.

"The outer shield," he whispered to himself.

"Yup, have any ideas how to get through it?" the pirate asked casually.

An expression of mixed confusion and fear took it's place on Tenchi's face.

"What do you mean by that? You got in somehow, so there has to be a way to get out."

"It's not that easy. I used an experimental device to get in and it kind of destroyed itself in the process."

Tenchi had no idea what she was talking about, but he got the essential message.

"So we are stuck," he stated.

"Not necessarily. I had to be careful to stay undiscovered as I got in, but now that we have the book and they know we are here there is no need for this anymore." Suddenly she looked a lot like the demon she was often compared with. "I'm going to blast our way out."

Trying to ignore her fearsome appearance, Tenchi still had his doubts about this course of action.

"Are you sure this will work?" he asked.

"No, so better hold onto something."

They were only seconds from the shield as Ryoko opened fire with all she had. The barrier became visible as the first blasts made contact with it. It was already dangerously close. Unfortunately, despite that the shield did flicker at the tremendous amount of energy it was confronted with, it did not collapse.

"Crap," cursed Ryoko as she realized that she wouldn't have enough time for another volley.

They were about to collide with the shield as what only could be described as a crack in reality opened up in front of the Souja. It was a jagged opening that lead into complete and ultimate darkness. In the fracture of a second it had grown to double the size of the Souja.

"What the hell is that!" was all Ryoko was left to say before the world around them disappeared into darkness.

* * *

Genousar deactivated the com link and smiled with satisfaction.

"This is turning out as maybe the greatest day in our history. We have not only saved the holy book from theft, but also captured one of the most wanted space pirates and her companion."

The Commander of the alpha base stood there, his chest swelled with pride and imagined what kind of honoring he would get for his accomplishments.

"So Jurai is sending some ships?" Ajin asked, making it obvious that he was not sharing the Commander's optimism.

After he had reactivated the vidlogs and given them the order to search for Ryoko he had placed himself in his seat. He felt exhausted and at the same time he wanted to try and settle with his thoughts. So Ajin hadn't paid much attention to Genousar and his talk with Jurai home-planet.

"Of course they will. About forty ships and some heavy war cruisers are going to take on the pirates up there." Genousar looked at his Officer and instantly his mood sank considerably.

Ajin's face showed an dead serious expression as he returned the glance.

"Seems our treasure is of very high importance to the empire," he said, wondering about the fact that Jurai would activate such a big force just to protect a book of which almost nobody knew what was written in it.

Genousar nodded and changed the subject. "Have our men arrested Ryoko and this deserter by now?"

Ajin shook his head without breaking eye contact. "We don't have a trace of them."

"They disappeared into thin air." Dicks words were followed by a hissing sound as the door closed behind him.

"They disappeared? Impossible!" Genousar turned around and looked at the leader of guard. "Tell your men to do their jobs properly and you will eventually find the thieves," he ordered in his best superior voice.

But Dick just took off his helmet, ran his hand through his blonde hair and finally walked into the direction of the third, empty chair, in order to sink into it with a sigh of exhaustion.

"We have searched the entire complex, sir. There is nothing left to do anymore. In case they are hiding somewhere, they will have to come out sooner or later and then we will get them."

Dick grinned at his Commander and a barely noticeable smile appeared on Genousar's face.

"Maybe you have a point. They can't escape."

He placed himself in Marlak's chair again and looked expectantly at the young guard, wondering why he made no move to leave the room.

"Anything else you want to tell me?"

"Well, no sir. But I'm curious as to how those pirates have managed to infiltrate the base. I mean they haven't deactivated our shields, have they, Ajin?"

Genousar gave Ajin, who had turned his back to Dick all the time, watching the monitors, no chance to react. In a firm voice he answered no to the question and all of his former enthusiasm forgotten instantly he continued towards Ajin.

"The guy told you he was Admiral Marunak. But if you had proved his identity you would have noticed that he was lying. Do you have an explanation for this, Officer?"

Ajin slowly raised his head and looked into the brown eyes of his superior.

"I made some mistakes, but that's of no importance now." He watched Genousar opening his mouth and continued before the Commander had a chance for a sharp reaction. "The pirates are no longer on base territory. Just look at this."

Genousar's gaze followed Ajin's gesture and locked onto one of the smaller screens, which received their data from the vidlogs.

"What am I supposed to see there?" he asked, staring only at a picture of the moon ground from a height of several hundred feet.

Curious about the mysterious screen image, Dick came over and took a look over Genousar's shoulder.

Just as he too started trying to make out something unusual on the screen, the picture changed. The vidlog performed a one-hundred-and-eighty degree rotation and suddenly a huge red discus-like object occupied the entire screen.

"The Souja!" Genousar and Dick shouted at the same time.

The mighty space ship rose up, headed for space, with an amazing speed.

"They are trying to escape!" Dick had spoken the obvious not without a faint hint of gloat, but at the sight of the massive ship, Genousar got doubts about the success of their security installations.

"Put the outer shield to full energy. They will surely try to..."

He interrupted himself as some blasts were fired from the Souja and three seconds later made contact with the shield. All the men in the room held their breath.

The energy shield started to flicker under the attack but it didn't collapse.

Just as Genousar realized that the ship had no way to prevent a collision with the shield anymore, the picture changed somehow. The stars in front of the ship disappeared and were replaced by something that couldn't be described as darkness anymore, but only as absolute nothingness.

Seconds later the Souja disappeared into it.

"What the hell...?!" Genousar murmured while Ajin gave orders to the vidlog to follow Ryoko's ship.

Anxious they all watched the small machine coming closer to the mysterious black hole. But the dark area disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. Ajin closed his eyes as a bright flash of light lit up the monitor. As he opened them again the screen was dark.

"The vidlog has collided with the shield, hasn't it?" Dick asked in a toneless voice, but nobody answered.

Commander Genousar just kept staring at the black screen with a shocked expression on his face. Obviously he wasn't able to understand what had happened.

After a minute of silence had passed Ajin raised his voice.

"I think we've lost the game."

* * *

The Soto-oh was waiting in orbit of the moon. Kagato hadn't bothered to maneuver out of their scanning range, because he knew that sooner or later Jurai would mobilize the resident fleet anyway.

Actually as he had deactivated the shield he had tried to make it as difficult as possible for them to reactivate it, so that he would buy Ryoko enough time to get out of there with the book and bring it to him.

But obviously he had failed. The shield was up again already for some time now and there was still no trace of Ryoko. The green haired pirate considered the possibility that he had somehow missed his former partner as unlikely as that she had been captured down there. As sure as Ryoko wasn't good at stealth, she still wouldn't allow herself to get captured by any amount of soldiers.

The shield had probably been reactivated before she had the chance to slip through. The only thing left for Kagato to do now, was to wait as long as possible and hope that Ryoko would be able to come up with a way to penetrate the shield herself.

Every other man, who hadn't known the cyan haired pirate for seventeen years, wouldn't have considered that a problem, because when going in somewhere one would always be prepared with a plan on how to get out again.

However, Kagato knew Ryoko and how she usually did go at solving problems. Not thinking much about them beforehand and just blasting them away once they came up.

He was interrupted in his thoughts as he felt a reaction from his ship. With a mental command he changed the picture on the view screen from one of the alpha moon to one of Jurai itself. His sharp eyes revealed some small dots in front of the planet, which were approaching his position.

"Faster than expected," the pirate said to himself.

He had the Soto-oh scan the incoming fleet for size and power.

The results were predictable. The fleet counted fifty tree ships and ten heavy war cruisers, a considerable part of the resident forces of Jurai.

Kagato ran a final check of the moons orbit, only to find nothing but empty space. Then he prepared to leave. He couldn't risk letting the fleet come to close to him.

'It's not over yet. We will meet again, Ryoko,' he thought as the Soto-oh accelerated into hyperspace.

* * *

Chapter notes:

All of the scenes that have the control center Officers in them, as well as the one in which Tenchi makes his way into the holy vault are written by Tamrin.

In the next chapter we will meet another old aquaintance, so stay tuned and keep the reviews coming.

Again, thank you all for the time you took reading and great thanks to Geor-sama, for smoothing things out some more.


	7. Turning Fates

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of their original creators and all those affiliated with them. I have neither created them, nor do I own them. Any new characters as well as the events within this story are created by me and my sister, so they are our property. This story is written for fun and as an homage to the world of Tenchi.

* * *

Chapter 6 - Turning Fates

Every moment seemed to be full of total and complete darkness for the passengers of the Souja. The situation could have been described as an absence of light in general. The stars of space had vanished along with the insides of the ship. They couldn't even make out their own bodies amongst the darkness anymore.

But actually, they hadn't much time to care or to even think about those effects, because the ex-GP and the pirate felt like they were being torn apart from the inside out.

Fortunately, all of this lasted only a brief moment and ended as suddenly as it had begun. The light returned, as did the stars. Everything went back to normal, but the two occupants of the pirate cruiser felt a little dizzy after the strange occurrence.

It took a while for the first one of them to recover her speech.

"What was that?!" Ryoko blurted out in a way that made it obvious that she had held her breath all the time up to her statement.

Tenchi groaned as the sound of her loud voice resonated with the vibrations he still felt inside his head.

"I had hoped you would tell me," he mumbled, barely audible.

However, the remains of the experience in the darkness seemed to be wearing off quickly. Tenchi could already feel his head clearing and soon he was able to make sense of Ryoko's fumbling with the controls in front of her.

There was one thing he knew for sure, even without checking their position. They were no longer in the place where they had entered the strange void. There was no trace of a spherical energy barrier, or an atmosphere or moon at all. They were in space and from the sight of the stars and his own feeling, Tenchi judged that they were moving slowly. Probably, whatever it was they had encountered, hadn't affected the Souja's speed.

"We're not in the Jurai system anymore," Ryoko stated in a serious tone, not looking up from her readings and controls.

Since Tenchi had already figured that the darkness had been some kind of portal, the news didn't surprise him too much.

"So where are we?" he asked simply.

Ryoko finished her scan and began staring at the view screen, an unusual thoughtful expression on her face.

"Near the Karana system," she said more to herself than Tenchi. "Strange..."

The Karana system was the appointed meeting place with her first client for the holy book. This couldn't be coincidence. She had had a strange feeling about the shadowy guy from the beginning and the fact that he seemed to be able to manipulate things like this portal, didn't make her feel any better.

Tenchi searched his memory for the term Karana and it took him only a second to identify it. The system was not too far from Jurai, but even with hyper speed it would have taken a fast space ship at least a few days to cross the distance. He wondered what the nature and more important the purpose of the dark portal had been. Looking over at Ryoko, who was still staring at the screen absentmindedly, he couldn't help but get the impression that the pirate already had an idea about it.

"What was this thing?" he asked straight ahead.

Ryoko shook her head, shoving off her thoughts about the discovery.

"I have no idea." She turned her gaze from the view screen at Tenchi and her eyes thinned dangerously. "But I have an idea who caused it," she added.

"And who might that be?" Tenchi asked, confused at her sudden grimness.

"Believe me, it's better for you not to know," Ryoko answered gloomily.

This made Tenchi painfully aware of his situation again. He was stuck on board the Souja, the feared pirate cruiser, with one of the most wanted criminals in the entire universe and coincidentally his own personal nemesis.

He sighed and slumped in his chair a little. Somehow this situation should have made him feel a lot worse, but it seemed that he had become used to always being on the short side of luck. He was supposed to meet Trake at Sasetia and the Gerdos system wasn't too far from their position, but even with hyper speed, it would probably take them at least a few hours to get there and Tenchi was at a loss as to how he could talk Ryoko into going there. No, he could forget about Trake for now.

At least Tenchi would try to use this situation to find out about the mysterious bond that connected him with Ryoko.

"So what are you going to do now?" he asked, making it sound as casual as he was able to.

The dark look on the pirate's face was replaced by a grin, similar to the one she had worn as she had met Tenchi for the first time and the young man became aware that he had made a mistake.

"Shouldn't the question be, what are we going to do now?" Ryoko said, while disappearing and phasing in next to Tenchi, who instantly jumped out of his seat, renewing the distance between them.

Soon he found himself standing some space away from the pirate, his hand resting on the sonic blaster in the holster at his side.

Actually he had expected her to try to advance on him further, but instead her playful expression changed into a slightly disappointed one.

"Why do you have to keep running away from me, Tenchi?" she asked in a low and very serious voice. "I really mean it. Why don't we become partners?"

By now Tenchi was really confused at her behavior. For a moment he considered that maybe she was playing another joke at him, but as she kept looking at him expectantly, he realized that she was serious about this.

As it became clear that Tenchi was either lacking the will or the ability to answer, Ryoko couldn't help but continue her idea.

"I know it would be great. Just the two of us roaming through the galaxy."

"Ryoko..."

"We could forget about anything else and just live out our lives as pirates."

"Ryoko..."

"Together we would be the best, nobody would be able to stop us."

"Ryoko, what's wrong with you?"

This made the pirate finally return to reality.

"Why don't you want to do this with me, Tenchi? By now, everybody takes you for my partner anyway, so why not just make it come true?"

Actually she had a point there, but that didn't mean that Tenchi was considering accepting her offer.

"Because it's plain wrong. I'm not a pirate like you and I'm never going to run through the galaxy, committing crimes."

Suddenly Ryoko took a fast step towards him that made him flinch and instinctively reach for his blaster again. Her eyes were burning with anger.

"And who tells you what's right or wrong? Those people who tricked you out of your post back then?" she asked sharply.

"I still believe that this was nothing but some kind of a misunderstanding..."

"Stop deluding yourself. The universe isn't fair, Tenchi!" Ryoko interrupted.

There was silence between them for a moment, then Tenchi spoke up, his voice filled with an unusually strong determination.

"Even if you were right, we can at least do our best to make it a better place."

Ryoko looked deep into his eyes as she said her next words, making his determination falter.

"You can say that, because you haven't lived as long as I did. You haven't seen the cruelty of the universe and it's people with your own eyes, you have never experienced it yourself."

Her look and the way she spoke those words made Tenchi's heart wrench in his chest. He wasn't able to answer anymore.

Then Ryoko's mood seemed to lighten a little again.

"But all of this doesn't matter in the end. You are my property anyway and so I can do with you as I please," she told him, a hint of amusement already reentering her voice.

Tenchi needed a moment to adjust to the new direction in which Ryoko was aiming with the conversation, and to swallow the lump that had formed in his throat at the promise of the anguish that her last serious statement had held.

Nevertheless, he got over it quickly, as Ryoko's amusement turned into a smile and then, as she observed him becoming even more uneasy, finally into a grin.

She was right. In his current situation there was not much he could do. He had only two options, risking a fight, or giving himself up. Considering his emotional state, Tenchi decided that he wasn't about to fight Ryoko. Even with a clear mind he would probably not have had any chance to accomplish something against the pirate other than to make a fool of himself. But right now his insides could only be described as a tempest.

No, there was only one option left for him. He looked down and clenched his fists in silent fury about the stupidity of the situation and his own inability to get out of it. Then, as some of the tension left his body, he faced Ryoko again and for a second it seemed like he was about to continue the argument, but he only made a dismissive sound and whirled around, in order to leave the bridge.

Part of him expected the pirate to try and follow or stop him. In fact he could feel her gaze upon his back until the door slid shut behind him, but she let him be.

Ryoko knew that there was no way for him to leave the Souja and she thought she knew the young man well enough to assume that he wasn't going to do something stupid, like damaging the ship, or getting himself hurt. Actually she was a little relieved as the door finally closed behind Tenchi. She needed some time to sort out her own thoughts after all that had happened.

She should have known that Tenchi wouldn't fall for her romantic approach. He was much too obsessed with his right and wrong ideas as to become her partner out of free will. But what really bothered her was her reaction to his refusal. She had lost her self-control and said things to him that she hadn't intended to say.

Ryoko wasn't the person to lose control over what she did. Of course from her usual behavior, it did not seem that way, but she never did something that she would regret later. Tenchi seemed to be able to make her do such things over and over. Even if she had the best chance now and he wouldn't be able to do anything about it, the pirate still didn't want to force the young man into becoming her partner. It would have been so much better if he decided to stay together with her on his own. And there was more to it than just that. Ryoko could almost feel the danger that she was about to confront right now.

She teleported back into the pilot's chair and typed a few commands, making data about their location appear for her to study. The Karana system was only a few seconds from the Souja's current position at maximum hyper speed.

The end of this mission was turning out much too easy. Ryoko didn't like her customers to interfere with her jobs and she had made this painfully obvious to some of them in the past. Of course it would be stupid to undertake the effort of appointing another meeting place with her Juraian client now, especially since the woman did not seem any more trustworthy than the other guy. Besides, Ryoko would have probably decided for his payment anyway. However, she would have liked to have been able to decide this for herself, not to mention that something about the man she was about to meet gave her the creeps.

She would take another look at the book before she handed it over. Somehow this whole thing gave her a funny feeling. Once again she realized that there was more to this than any of her usual jobs. She had to be careful.

But right now there were more important matters to be taken care of. Reaching Karana with normal speed would take at least a few hours, more than enough time to accomplish the task she had in mind.

--

Tenchi walked restlessly through the long pathways of the pirate cruiser. In order to calm himself down a little, he had taken the liberty of visiting the Souja's most important and impressive installments. He had been to the main generator room and after that, had accidentally come across one of the powerful shield generators.

The technology he had seen there could not be compared with anything he knew. He had known about the exact combat power of this ship, but like most other people, he had never figured out just how the Souja could be that powerful. Now he had a slightly better understanding of it.

Tenchi assumed that Washu, the genius scientist, had created most of the inventions he had seen. Anger rolled over him again at the thought of the little woman. If it hadn't been for her, maybe he wouldn't have been in this unacceptable situation.

Pushing the thought aside, he continued down the pathway. He silently asked himself how Ryoko was able to run a ship like this on her own. The Souja wasn't one of the biggest ships he had seen, but should have been, by far, more demanding than what a single person could handle. Probably the answer to this question was to be found in her special abilities.

Tenchi was about to mentally return to their earlier conversation, as he came across a door. Since Ryoko was the only occupant of the Souja, there weren't any unnecessary rooms to be found on the ship.

The young man wondered what he had come across this time and stepped up to the door. Like all the others on the ship, it slid open as he approached it. Ryoko hadn't made the effort of sealing up anything. Obviously she was confident that no stranger would ever succeed in boarding her ship. Somehow there was more to this thought than he realized by then, but as he entered the room it simply slipped from his mind.

There was no doubt in the nature of what he had discovered. This was Ryoko's private quarters. Her room, so to speak.

For a moment Tenchi was stunned by his discovery. He was undecided if he should just leave and get as great a distance between him and this room as possible, or if he should investigate further. Finally his curiosity got the better of him and he stepped into the room completely, so that the door would close behind him.

Slowly and with great attention he looked around. The quarters were only a little bigger in space than his own on the Yagami, but it was furnished more personally. Pieces of various precious treasures were scattered around everywhere, obviously things that Ryoko had decided to keep for herself after stealing them.

It was not until then that he noticed that the room was generally a mess. Between the treasures, that for the most part were just standing around on the floor, were scattered various piles of clothes and even some unsavory food remains. Obviously Ryoko didn't like to use the many storage areas that the walls of the room provided.

Carefully, as not to trip over something on the floor, Tenchi made his way to the center of the room as a certain item caught his attention. On a table near the comfortable bed was standing a piece of treasure that was different from the others in the room. It was a picture. It's frame was not one of these fancy ones which distracted the attention of the viewer from the motive itself. Still, Tenchi couldn't help but find the frame exceptionally beautiful and he wondered where the pirate had gotten it from. The picture itself, however, he knew. It was the one of him and his mother, which she had taken from him after their first encounter.

Finding it there like this somehow weakened Tenchi legs, so that he had to sit down on the bed.

Ryoko had framed his picture and added it to her most personal items. A wave of emotion washed through the young man. He had always thought that the pirate's only interest in him was to tease and embarrass him and maybe some more things that she thought of as being fun. That was why he couldn't understand her earlier behavior on the bridge. But the picture spoke another language.

Emotions and thoughts once more mixed into a wild storm in Tenchi's mind. Why did he follow Ryoko around half the universe? He searched for answers to the questions about himself and his mysterious powers and feelings, but were these feelings really that mysterious? Was he just lying to himself, trying to find excuses for forbidden emotions? No, there was more to this. There was some connection between him and the pirate and he had to find out what it was.

His thoughts were spinning inside his head and he felt that he was losing more and more control over them as his urge for rest after the events of the past hours got to him. All of his mind and body fought against what he was going to do, but his fatigue was too strong and he finally lay down completely on the bed.

He couldn't help but notice that it was as comfortable as it looked while sleep took a hold of him.

* * *

Trake deactivated the communication link and leaned back into his chair. Starring off into the distance he imagined his great coup and a wide smile appeared on his face. Finally the waiting had come to an end.

His fingers rushed over the navigation panel and a slight tremble ran through the small ship as it started to move.

Out of very conscious thought Trake had never given his own ship a name. It was a lot harder to remember a registration like SH-1076 and at the times he was traveling with his own ship, he usually did not want people to remember too much about it.

SH-1076, at the first sight, appeared like a normal one-person middle-class ship, but in fact it was anything but normal. Using his connections, Trake had replaced the serial inner equipment of the ship with much more useful components, which were of course forbidden by law and only accessable through the black market. Knowing this, it wouldn't have been too astounding to see the little space ship, which should have only been able to travel by normal speed accelerating into hyperspace like a cruiser.

Trake's business partner hadn't talked too much, but judging from the little information he had given, it didn't make much sense to wait in the Gerdos system any longer. Tenchi wouldn't come. Despite what Trake had hoped, it seemed that he hadn't been able to capture Ryoko. Perhaps the boy was not as powerful as he had first thought. In any case, the space pirate was on her way to the appointed meeting place at Karana, so he would have to go there too.

There were still some hours to pass before he was going to reach his new destination. Trake didn't need a second to find a way of filling up the time. Once more his hands moved over the control panel and the view of the stars, which filled the big view screen, made place for a GP-logo. Trake skipped the instrumental introduction and started reading through the news immediately.

"Space pirate duo arrested in a theft... Big massacre on planet Mechano, culprit escaped... Psychopath tried to kill King Ronso... ..." Trake scrolled over the news up to the very last line, "GP-High Admiral Sayasu honors Admiral Marunak," and ended the connection.

Since this was the official GP-archive and the relations between Jurai and the GP were usually tensed he hadn't really expected to find something about the events on the Jurai-moon.

But he wouldn't have become Commander of the third Galaxy Police patrol ship fleet's flag ship Hirazenty and Detective Sergeant 1st class in duty of the Galaxy Police if he was wasn't able to get more information out of other sources.

Some minutes later Trake was reading the secret Jurai-report and found himself frowning. The report that told of the happenings on the alpha base in short words was entitled:

"Space pirate Ryoko and her companions stole the holy book."

A space pirate trio was mentioned and from their ingenious action it was concluded that they had planned the coup ahead for a long time already.

Trake tilted his head in contemplation. Had he not known with one hundred percent certainity that Nagi was locked up in the GS Prison, his first thought would have been the return of the feared space pirate trio.

Only Ryoko was named clearly in the report. For the other two men, who had been disguised as Officers, were only descriptions, but of course from the nature of the actions commited Trake realized immediately whom he knew of the two.

So Tenchi had actually almost managed to catch Ryoko. However, out of some reason he had then obviously decided to change sides and escaped with her. Trake thought of this as a good move, in a hopeless situation he would have done exactly the same.

Ryoko and Tenchi, but who was the third one? The report stated that the tall man had been armed with a black energy sword and that he had acted with a great deal of violence. Even before Trake came upon the pictures of the culprits, recorded by the Vidlogs, he knew the identity of the mysterious third.

"Kagato" he murmured with some surprise. "This can't be a coincidence."

But Trake doubted that the two of them were working together again. After all he had heard from Nagi that the trio had been broken up two years ago once and for all. So a coincidence was the only explanation for the sudden decision of the two pirates to steal the holy book.

Trake stopped thinking about that strange fact and closed the illegal connection. In any case he would capture Ryoko within the next hours and maybe within the next weeks, the third ex-member of the trio too.

* * *

Tenchi awoke startled. It hadn't been as bad as the last time, but he could still tell that he had had a nightmare again. He had a feeling that he hadn't slept for too long, probably an hour at the most and he felt even more exhausted than before.

The light in the room had dimmed as Tenchi's bio-rythyms had indicated that he was going to sleep. Now it was slowly lighting up again.

He knew that going back to sleep after a nightmare was difficult, so he was about to get up, as he heard a sound next to him. The next moment Tenchi could feel the mass of another body beside him. There was no doubt about whose body it was.

Tenchi thanked the heavens that he was facing away from Ryoko and tried to pretend he was sleeping at his best, all the time hoping that the pirate was still clothed like him and wouldn't make any offensive moves.

As some time passed uneventful, Tenchi relaxed a little. It was in this moment that he felt something touch him and he tensed up completely as he realized that Ryoko had moved her arm over him in a protective manner. He had a hard time fighting the urge to just jump out of the bed, but he was well aware that this was the stupidest thing he could do at the moment, so he tried to relax again.

The pirate made no attempts to advance any further and Tenchi calmed down again. He even started to feel comfortable. He had no idea where these feelings came from, but suddenly he knew that Ryoko's soft embrace offered him safety and protection. Soothed like this, he slowly drifted to sleep again. And for the first time in years he slept peacefully, not plagued by nightmares anymore.

--

Ryoko waited until she was sure that Tenchi had gone to sleep. Then she waited another hour to watch him sleep quietly beside her.

Finally, as she realized that her time was running short, she carefully moved her other arm under Tenchi's side, in order to support him, and teleported them both away.

They reappeared inside another room on board the Souja, Ryoko still holding the sleeping Tenchi in her arms. She hovered over to one of the escape pods the small chamber held and placed him inside, making sure not to wake him in the process.

After she had properly connected him to the systems she closed the capsule with a sigh of both relief and sorrow. The systems inside would lengthen his sleep from then on so there was no risk for him to wake up anymore.

The pirate took one last look at the peaceful face of the sleeping man and then initiated the start of the capsule.

Only a second later the capsule shot out into space.

"Farewell, Tenchi," Ryoko spoke, barely above a whisper.

* * *

"The council has come to a decision," a voice announced inside a room deep within the royal palace of Jurai.

A large number of hooded figures stood lined up on a wooden podium that was shaped like a semi-circle, taking up almost the entire space of the chamber. The only area not occupied by the members of the council was the comparatively small patch that made up the lowest level of the room, located in the middle of the arced podium.

A single person occupied this spot and although the odds were gravely against him with the layout of the room he still would have managed to make as much an impression on any outside viewer as the entire council together.

Unfortunately the council meeting was a secret one, so nobody would be granted the impressive sight of Emperor Azusa standing in front of the council of Jurai this time.

The Emperor had been standing there for quite some time now, while he patiently awaited the council's decision concerning his purpose.

"It is the conviction of the council that mobilizing all of Jurai's resources, in order to retrieve the sacred treasure from Ryoko and her pirates would be rash and inappropriate. In addition it would hurt the inter-planetary economy and therefore the council has to reject the Emperor's purpose."

Although Azusa had somewhat expected this to happen, he was still most displeased with the decision. It did not happen often that he had a disagreement with the council about his plans, one of the reasons why he was considered a very capable Emperor by most of the people. But now that he needed the support of his council more than ever, they were letting him down.

"It appears to me that you are unable to realize all the implications of the situation at hand," Azusa stated his doubts, a hint of anger and impatience entering his voice.

"Your majesty, please accept the decision of the council."

The leader of the council knew his Emperor and he knew how stubborn Azusa could be about his ideas, so he tried to make his point without further discussion.

After a moment of silence it became obvious to Azusa that the council wasn't going to change it's mind, so he did the only thing that was left for him to do.

"Believe me, you don't know what you are dealing with here," he growled more to himself than to anybody in particular.

After that he took one more look around the room, almost making some of the council members flinch under his unyielding gaze, turned around and pushed the mighty door to the room open forcefully. He left the chamber with some quick steps and used a small amount of his incredible powers to have the door wings slam shut behind him without even turning around.

As he made his way down the hallway that stretched out in front of him he was for once thankful for it's endless nature. It would give him some time to deal with the anger that was building up inside of him.

In fact he couldn't really blame the council for their decision. They had no way to know what was at stake here.

Only the Royal Family that was in possession of the throne of Jurai was educated about the nature of the secrets the holy book held. To entrust the members of the only temporary elected council with such knowledge would be too much of a risk. There were things that just needed to remain unknown and the only way to ensure this would have been to eliminate the entire council after their term of service and for a society as advanced as Jurai this was not much of an option.

Of course even if they had never expected such an incident to occur, Azusa's ancestors had made sure that there was still a way to deal with it, just in case. There was a tiny article in the Jurai law, that would allow the Emperor to dissolve the council over matters concerning the holy book and seize absolute control over the Juraian empire. This article had been written with a situation in mind that resembled the one they were encountering now.

However, Azusa was reluctant to make use of it. With such an action he would lose the trust of the people and the political stability of Jurai would be endangered.

Once more he cursed the nature of his situation as he continued to storm down the corridor. At the sight of the infuriated monarch, servants and other people who had to attend business at the royal palace immediately jumped out of his way, bowing to him respectfully as he passed.

Azusa, however, didn't even notice them. The fact that Ryoko was the one responsible for this mess didn't make matters any less annoying. The pirate had already made a fool of the Juraian empire in past years, but stealing the holy book had easily topped it all. Not counting the various smaller offences she had committed, this was the second successful assault she had made on Jurai in only 17 years. Nobody had ever caused the Juraian empire even nearly as much trouble as Ryoko had.

Not to speak of Azusa's personal experiences with her... He had battled her and her fellow pirates 17 years ago and although the Emperor of Jurai was considered one of the most powerful beings in existence he had not been able to stop them. With the death of the first crown prince and the theft of a seedling, it had been a fatal blow to Jurai, which had damaged its reputation throughout the entire galaxy. There was evidence that the seedling had died shortly after and it turned out later that Ryoko hadn't had any responsibility for the death of his son Yuro, but these realizations hadn't done too much to restore the face of the empire after such an incident.

He had hoped that these events would make the council decide that now was the right time to put a stop to the infamous space pirate once and for all, since the Galaxy Police was usually hot on her heels too and Jurai would completely loose it's face if the GP would arrest Ryoko before them. But obviously he had underestimated the council's indecisiveness in such matters.

The only thing left for him to do now was to make use of his position as supreme leader of Jurai's military forces and mobilize the entire fleet in order to start a systematic search for the pirate. This was kind of ineffective and it was highly unlikely that they would be able to spot her within a short time, but in order to mobilize all resources he would have to dissolve the council and he wasn't going to do that yet.

Azusa knew exactly what was written in the book and he knew that there was no way for Ryoko to access the information contained within, only members of the Royal Family would be able to accomplish this. That was one of the reasons he thought it as unlikely that Ryoko had done this raid in order to keep the book for herself. It was known that space pirates like her often sold their services to others, in exchange for money or black market technology. If that was the case and someone else was behind this, there was truly reason to worry.

The Emperor couldn't help but think about his treacherous daughter and her wicked husband. The mere idea of them being behind all of this made his fury grow even more intense.

Finally he reached the lift at the other end of the hallway and slammed his fist on the control panel, trying to vent some of his anger. It didn't help much and as the lift took up towards the throne room with him, he was literally fuming.

* * *

The pirate cruiser Souja slowly made its way towards the bright star of Karana. In fact, travelling through outer space below hyper speed was kind of unusual, so the Souja was the only ship that remained in this sector of space long enough to be actually spotted with the bare eye.

Frankly, it was the only ship around.

The cruiser's only occupant had chosen to lower the speed on purpose, in order to achieve just that effect. Ryoko still needed some time to think things over and prepare for the meeting at hand.

Right now she was seated in front of the pilot's station, busy specifying her destination for the Souja's navigation system. Once she had completed this task, she relaxed into her chair and tried to get order into the chaotic events of the past days inside her head.

Two people wanted her to steal the holy book for them. One of them was a member of the Jurai Royal family itself and the other obviously commanded over some god-like powers. And she had no idea what either of them needed the book for.

The royal had said something about intrigue but Ryoko could have cared less for the ambitions of some snobbish nobles, even if they were from Jurai. What really gave her a bad feeling was the other guy, who she was headed to meet at the very moment. She had not the slightest idea of who he was and what his intentions were. Not that she was interested, but something about his appearance had given her an uneasy feeling from the very beginning, not to speak of his mysterious powers and the way he had interfered with her mission. Even if she was the greatest and most powerful of space pirates, and she would never admit it, he had somehow made an unusual superior impression on her.

Then there was the thing with Kagato. Of course a pirate wasn't the most trustworthy person, especially not Ryoko, but she was the best and when she was hired by someone, she expected him to acknowledge her abilities and to know better than to send someone else with the same mission after her. Ryoko thought of the involvement of a third party as unlikely. It would be just too much of a coincidence: Three people showing an interest in the book at almost the same time, where nobody had ever even attempted a coup before? There was too much evidence pointing against it being coincidental.

Now that one of her clients had bent the rules of their deal she had a good reason for doing what she had intended to do anyway: Taking a look at the book, to get a better understanding of what she was dealing with here and to see if it contained anything of value.

She left her seat and retrieved the book from Washu's dimensional pocket, in which she had stored it, all the time hoping that she would not have to read through facts about Jurai's history and religion in order to find out what was so special about it. She did not like reading too much anyway, but there was nothing worse than factual books. They gave her the creeps.

Holding the heavy book in front of her, she examined it more closely for the fist time. It was obvious that it was very old. It could even been described as ancient without any exaggeration. The cover was made entirely of wood, which was carved with strange forms and patterns. Ryoko couldn't make any sense of them but somehow the artwork was breathtaking, even to her.

After she had stared at the cover in awe for a few moments, she discovered a seal on the book, that she hadn't noticed before.

"Crap," she announced at the sight.

Once she opened this up and decided that the book had no value to her, her client would know instantly that she had taken a look.

"Oh well, can't do anything about this," she said with a faked sigh of regret and a shrug.

Then she forcefully ripped the seal off the book. Or at least that was what she intended to do, but to her surprise she found that the material easily withstood her superhuman strength. With a low growl she tried again, this time giving it all she had got. The result was the same, the seal remained in place.

"Damn!" Ryoko cursed and tried to use her powers in order to phase it away from the book, only to find that this did not work either.

A wave of anger washed over her and for a moment she was about to just start blasting away at the book, but then she realized that destroying her price wouldn't do her any good at all and she tried to calm down a little.

She couldn't open it up to take a look for herself, so she just had to get the information out of her client before handing it to him. She did not like the idea too much, but after all the book was in her possession and she was the one to make up the rules for the deal now.

The book still in hand, she returned to the navigation panel, to find that she had already entered the system and was about to reach the appointed coordinates.

A somber look came to her face. Now more than ever she was convinced that leaving Tenchi behind had been the right choice. With the current situation and considering the feeling she had about the man she was going to meet, there would have been no way for her to guarantee Tenchi's safety. She wasn't concerned about herself, since danger was her business and she knew how to deal with it. However, something was different this time. She knew that something bad was going to happen and she didn't want to involve Tenchi in it.

Her expression lightened up a little as she thought about the young man's destination. He would definitely be annoyed with her choice for his landing place, but she knew that the people there could be trusted more than most others and the last thing they were going to do was turn him in to Jurai or the GP. Furthermore they would probably keep him there for a while, so that by the time he left, things would have probably calmed down.

Of course Ryoko hoped that she would be able to pick him up by herself after finishing this mission, but maybe she wouldn't get the chance to do so and like this, at least she would know that Tenchi was safe.

A flashing light on the console in front of her brought the pirate out of her thoughts. She had finally reached the appointed coordinates. Soon she would have some answers, that was because she wasn't about to leave without them and, returning to her usual self, she was going to decide later if she did like them or not.

Ryoko realized that she was thinking a little too far ahead for once after she finished her scan of the surrounding area. There was absolutely nothing out there. No planet, no star-base, no ship, no anything. For a moment she considered the possibility that she had entered the wrong coordinates, but quickly abolished it by re-checking them. She was exactly in the right place and since there seemed to be nobody and nothing else there, she had obviously been fooled somehow.

She was just about to try and figure out what her client would get out of telling her the wrong coordinates as something changed. Ryoko could feel it an instant before the view screen went dark. It almost felt like teleportation, but as the feeling faded after only a second, she was still in the same place. The only visual change was that the view screen had failed somehow. Otherwise there was no evidence that something unusual had just occurred, but Ryoko knew better than to ignore her instincts. They had saved her life by far too often for that.

Trying to figure out the source of her sudden uneasiness she checked up the ship's systems, while at the same time she attempted to get the screen functional again.

Neither of the activities brought a positive result. The screen would just refuse to work, without any obvious reason and in addition, most of the external sensors were out of commission too. The only information she would get out of them was that the vacuum of space had been replaced by some kind of atmosphere, so either someone had created an atmosphere in space in the span of a few seconds, or what was more likely, the Souja wasn't in space anymore, but someplace else.

Thinking about their earlier experiences with the gateway of darkness, Ryoko decided to settle for the second possibility.

Wherever this was, it was probably her final destination, chosen by her client. Once more she seemed to have not much choice but to play along with his rules.

She made sure that she had a good hold of the book and then boldly teleported outside.

--

The sight that awaited Ryoko as she materialized in the air right next to the Souja's hull was frankly not what she had expected. It was not one any person did expect when leaving a space ship that was actually still supposed to be nowhere else but in space.

The word that would come closest to describing what the pirate was seeing would be a temple. The hangar, if it could be called this, was enormous.

Ryoko brought a little distance between herself and her ship, in order to get a better view of the place.

Since there seemed to be absolutely no technical equipment anywhere, there also was no lighting. Strangely, however, the ship itself gave off a pale glow of which Ryoko knew that it normally did not generate it. The glow was strong enough to light up not only the immediate surroundings, but also a big part of the hangar, before it lost itself in the darkness.

At this point the pirate noticed that the word enormous might have been too weak to describe the proportions of the hall. The Souja, a ship that was anything but small, almost seemed lost in the vastness of the dark chamber.

Four massive columns made up a square with Ryoko's ship as the center. Each one of them was about half the size of the Souja itself and they started up from a pedestal of about the same height as the ship hovered above the marbled ground, kept in place by an unseen force, and stretched up until they vanished into the darkness.

The chamber had no visible ceiling as well as obviously no far walls. Ryoko would have considered that she was still in space if it wasn't for the ground of the room, the columns and the absence of stars.

Furthermore, there was definitely no music in space.

On from the moment she had teleported outside, Ryoko could hear a faint tune. From the sound of it it was originated very far away, but the strange acoustics of the place and her sharp hearing, gave the pirate a good idea about the source. It was a deep full sound that made a dark, but still not unpleasant impression, because it also held a great deal of harmony.

Ryoko couldn't think of any melody or instrument to fit this strange place any better. What she was hearing was actually organ music.

"Now this is some welcome. Absolutely no comparison with Washu," the pirate told herself with a big smile despite her uneasy feeling that was now stronger than ever.

"I guess it would be rude to let him wait any longer."

Shutting down the unusual emotions inside of her, Ryoko let her smile widen into fang-baring grin and took off into the direction the music was originated.

--

It was quite a surprise to Ryoko that the darkness at the end of her vision did never engulf her, even after she had gotten enough distance between herself and the ship for its sparse lighting to be replaced by nothing but darkness too. It almost seemed as if she was giving off this strange glow she had observed earlier by herself now, brightening up her immediate surroundings.

"This guy has some neat tricks up his sleeve," the pirate observed.

Finally, after a while, the music had increased in volume a few notches and Ryoko knew that she was drawing close to the source.

All of a sudden the darkness around her backed away and the realization that she was about to reach her destination sank in on the space pirate, so she instinctively set down to the floor and took a close look at the new setting.

On three sides of the hall the darkness had parted, although in a way it was still impossible to spot any far end. To the left as well as to the right were now visible two rows of what were obviously stone arcs, connected with one another by pillars that were not as huge as the ones back by the Souja, but still impressive. Behind the second row on each side, darkness fell upon the hall again.

It was at this point that Ryoko noticed the sudden change of lighting actually had a source this time. There were several huge spheres of what looked like some kind of blue energy floating in the air somewhere above the stone arcs, providing more of the eerie glow that was so typical for this lair.

As if triggered by her thoughts, two strange objects suddenly shimmered into existence on both sides near the pirate. They looked like simple ashlars, floating above their bases at about the height of Ryoko's head. The two objects were surrounded by dark blue spheres that gave off some light as well.

The ground on which the bases were placed had also changed. Where the stone mosaic had been before, there was now a reflective surface, that gave the hall the illusion of an additional dimension. Beneath Ryoko's feet, however, the floor was of polished stone, making up a pathway through the center of the unusual structure.

It led to a set of stairs, which in turn led to what was unmistakably the sanctuary of this entire complex. The giant organ that it held was already visible from Ryoko's position.

This was the place where she would finally meet her client.

Feeling more than a little disturbed by the strangeness of the place, the pirate found herself lacking the resolution to cover the distance by flying, so she slowly started walking towards the stairs. The organ tune adjusted to the situation with raising into it's final chords.

It did not take her too long to arrive at the end of the pathway and enter the sanctuary by climbing up the stairs.

The perimeter was made up by several enormous columns on both sides now, and the pathway continued from the top of the stairs up to the organ, where a man with a green cape was sitting, finishing his performance with Ryoko's entry.

After the final sound died away, the man slowly stood and turned around to face Ryoko, who had meanwhile gotten close enough to make out more details of his appearance.

Up to now she hadn't gotten a real look at the guy, because in his initial transmission he had been covered in shadows so that the only thing she had seen of him had been his outline. However, even the little she had seen had managed to make her feel uncomfortable and that was a thing that did not happen often to Ryoko.

Now she could make out every detail and the incredibly strong aura of power emanating from him made her stomach wrench and her mouth go dry almost instantly. Under the cape the man was wearing a dark blue robe that gave him the look of some kind of priest in a strange sort of way and made him fit perfectly in the place he seemed to have created for himself.

But even more impressive were his facial features. His completely white hair was as well ordered as the rest of his appearance and part of it hung down in front of his ears in a similar style as Ryoko's. He wore a small, loose pair of glasses over his nose and the eyes behind them were entirely yellow. Not golden like Ryoko's irises, but in a darker somewhat sick and unpleasant shade. There were two small dots of brownish red color, one in each of his eyes, which were fixed directly at her now.

After he had waited a little, giving her the chance to study him he bowed deep, one arm held in front of his chest.

"Welcome to my chapel, Ryoko," he spoke. The tone of his voice stood in contrast with the polite gesture and choice of words.

From what she had seen and heard up to now Ryoko already knew that this was a man who had never felt and would never feel any respect for anyone but himself. She had dealt with people of this sort before and most of them had tried to trick her somehow. Of course all of them had overestimated themselves vastly and that had been the last mistake of their life, but with the guy who stood in front of her now it was different. In a way she could feel the power almost dripping off him and his mere presence seemed to suck up her confidence.

As he realized that Ryoko would not, or could not respond, the man continued with the hint of a dark smile.

"I'm glad that you decided to carry through with our deal, although you are a little late."

Ryoko realized what he was getting at with his words, so he really had been the one to create the dark portal.

As she found herself still unable to respond she summoned all of her powers, in order to fight back his influence on her. It wasn't easy and it took her a few seconds in which the dark man watched her with curiosity, but she eventually restored her ability to speak.

"My schedule is none of your business," she told him.

"Right, I guess so," he replied silently and more to himself. "But anyway, I see you have the book already with you, so you can just hand it to me now and we will finish the deal."

He made a step towards her, but Ryoko stood her ground.

"Not so fast."

She tightened her grip on the book as much as possible, although she had her doubts that this would keep him from taking it if he really wanted.

The dark man's eyes narrowed a little, making him appear more like a living incarnation of a devil than some priest.

"Now what's that supposed to mean?" he asked in a voice that held some threat and amusement at the same time.

"I want to know what's so important about it first, important enough to send someone after me."

The man seemed to consider what she had asked of him for a moment, then he replied, again more to himself.

"So these two have overdone it again..."

"Answer me now, or I will make it that you will never get your hands on the book!" Ryoko interrupted his spoken thoughts.

"I doubt you can do this, but there's no reason not to tell you." The pirate's outburst only seemed to amuse him even more.

His arrogance made Ryoko fume inwardly and by utilizing her anger she was actually able to fight off most of his influence on her.

"I knew that you would bring the book to me, so there was no need to give the mission to anyone else. The one who sent Kagato is a fool and you do not need to worry about him."

Ryoko was slightly taken aback that he knew about Kagato, but then again he had created the portal exactly at the right time, so it was obvious that he had a way to know what was going on.

"As for the contents of the book, you do not need to concern yourself with them either. The writings in there will be of no use to you, even if you were able to read them, and I can assure you, that you are not."

This answer wasn't to Ryoko's satisfaction.

"How do I know you aren't lying?" she asked simply.

"You don't, but you really have no choice in the matter anyway, so just hand me the book."

Ryoko had meanwhile made up her mind. When a man of such power was after the book, it had to have a lot of value. Furthermore all of her instincts screamed at her not to let him have it and she usually did trust her instincts.

"If you really want it, you will have to get through me first."

The man's smile widened.

"A challenge? This is most interesting, I do not doubt that it would provide some entertainment even, but unfortunately I have no time for such games right now."

Something changed in the room the moment he spoke these words and Ryoko reacted by instantly bringing her shield up and preparing for battle. She heard a popping sound from behind her and whirled around, just in time to see a small projectile heading her way, passing through her shield and embedding itself in her right leg.

"Damn," Ryoko cursed as the book slipped from her hand and she realized that she had made the mistake of expecting an energy attack and not being prepared for a physical one.

She could already feel her leg going numb where the small arrow had hit her. Ripping it off with a growl and tossing it to the ground, she searched for the source for the attack, but wasn't able to spot anything in the darkness between the huge columns.

The numbness was spreading quickly and she had to balance her weight on her other leg by levitation in order to prevent it from giving away under her. With fury blazing in her eyes she turned around to face the dark man once more, a powerful ball of energy forming in each of her hands.

"You tricked me!"

The man stood calmly as she brought her hands together and combined the balls into a bigger one.

She never got to release her attack as another arrow hit her right in the back, making her lose her focus. With a scream she reached behind her and ripped it out of her flesh, but another one replaced it immediately. Her mind already started to become dazed from the anesthetic, but even with almost no control over her legs she somehow managed to take a shaky step towards the man in front of her, then another one, as if she was trying to reach him so she could rip him apart with her bare hands.

It took five more hits for Ryoko to finally break to her hands and knees and as they gave away too, collapse to the ground entirely. Her consciousness was wiped out the instant her face hit the floor.

All the time the green cloaked man had watched in silence, not moving by an inch. Now he slowly walked over to where the pirate had dropped the book and picked it up, carelessly stepping over Ryoko's limp body in the process.

Right after he had fetched up his treasure another man stepped out of the darkness that made up the border of the hall, carrying a big, odd looking gun in one hand.

"You know, this did not go quite as I had expected." He held up one of the arrows he had used to shot the pirate. "One of those should have been enough to take her out within a second, the dose in there is strong enough to kill a normal human at the spot. For a moment I even thought she would get to you."

Of course he could care less about the fate of the dark man, but at that moment he had been the only thing that stood between himself and the raging pirate, so he really had been worried for him.

After staring at the book for a while the white haired man finally turned his attention to the one with the gun.

"You really do not need to worry about my well-being, Detective Trake," he spoke.

Trake inwardly cringed at the mentioning of his name. He usually tried to hide his identity from his business partners, but there seemed to be nothing that the man in front of him did not know.

"I suggest you take what you so desire and leave here as fast as possible, because otherwise I may decide to cancel our deal."

Trake did not need to be told that twice. He placed the gun in the holster on his back and got over to the place where Ryoko had fallen so fast, he was almost running.

The dark man kept watching him as he pulled up Ryoko and threw her over his shoulder with a swiftness one did not expect from a man of his stature.

"It was a pleasure to do business with you. I would like to do so again," Trake lied as he stood, supporting the pirate over his shoulder with one hand.

For the first time the confident smile disappeared from the face of the cloaked man and was replaced by a frightening mask of absolutely no expression.

"I do not think that you will do business with anybody ever again," he stated darkly.

"Huh," was the only response Trake could think of.

"Now leave," the dark man demanded.

Trake turned around instantly and ran as fast as he was able to with the additional weight of Ryoko over his shoulder. He only hoped that it would not take him as long to reach his ship as it had taken him to get to the sanctuary.

* * *

Chapter notes:

First off, I'm forever thankful to my proof-readers Ledzepfan and Geor-sama. This chapter wouldn't have come out half as smooth without their help. Thanks guys and keep it up.

Now, guess who was the role model for the dark man. I wanted to have as much of my favorite characters as possible in the story, so there was no way around this. I used a picture I have to describe his place, but it has already been some time since I last watched OVA Episode 6, so I just hope that I wasn't too far off.

This time the only scene of this my sister wrote is the one with Trake.

See you in chapter 7.


	8. Forced Adaptation

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of their original creators and all those affiliated with them. I have neither created them, nor do I own them. Any new characters as well as the events within this story are created by me and my sister, so they are our property. This story is written for fun and as an homage to the world of Tenchi.

* * *

Chapter 7 - Forced Adaptation

As the darkness gradually gave way to the ever brightening light, Tenchi awakened from his slumber. Slowly he opened his eyes and, after a moment of confusion, noticed with some astonishment that he obviously wasn't in Ryoko's bed on board the Souja anymore. He was still lying softly on his back, but his gaze was directed at a glowing bluish-purple sky now, and the wisp like clouds that were moving quickly across it.

"What's this?" he murmured, trying to free himself from the small cage he was imprisoned in.

After some moments of wildly struggling he finally touched the appropriate button and the seal opened with a hissing sound. Cool dry air streamed into the capsule and sent a shiver down Tenchi's spine. He climbed out of his sleeping place as fast as possible and examined his surroundings.

He was standing in the middle of a place, he would have called desert without sand. It was a desert of stones, burned trees and dried up plants. Most likely there wasn't much rain in this area. As far as he could tell the wasteland was made up of rough clay-soil.

Tenchi spun around his axis, he couldn't believe that he was actually stranded on a desert planet. But except from some small hills in the south it was the same desolate landscape for as far as his eyes could see.

"RYOKO!" Tenchi shouted out from a sudden surge of emotion and even gave it another try after several seconds.

Then he felt like a complete fool. For a moment he had really thought that this was nothing but another one of Ryoko's bad jokes. But if that had been the case, she would have already been standing in front of him by now, grinning widely. His shouts were merely carried away by the wind though.

Confused Tenchi stared at the black escape pod. What was the meaning of this?

Thoughts started whirling through his head. The last thing he remembered was that he had been sleeping next to Ryoko. But what had happened then? If the Souja had been attacked he would have been awakened for sure.

"No," he muttered slightly disappointed as the most obvious thought came to his mind.

Ryoko had wanted to get rid of him and used the opportunity to abandon him in a god forsaken wasteland. The facts were right before his eyes, but still Tenchi couldn't imagine the pirate to be that cruel. Certainly she was not intending to kill him, so there had to be a way for him to survive on this planet.

He searched the capsule and soon discovered the emergency backpack he had hoped to find, because it belonged to the basic equipment of every manned escape pod. However, as Tenchi opened the bag his mood decreased instantly. The only contains of his essential baggage were some hard cookies and a nearly empty water bottle. What else could he expect of the caring Ryoko?

Tenchi shrugged with a barely visible smile on his face, shouldered the bag and walked off in a southern direction.

--

Past the hills, which had cost him almost an hour to cross, the landscape changed. It still made a dry and barren impression, but the trace of death and desperation was gone. The variety of vegetation had increased, dark wooden stalks wound along the ground and, meeting others of their kind, curled around and vertically up one another. The shapes, which were formed that way reminded Tenchi a lot of Juraian architecture like he had seen on the moon base and again he had to think about the question of which planet he was stuck on. Other than the strange wood there were also normal trees with huge thick leaves and some plants colored in the darkest shade of green Tenchi had ever seen.

He walked slowly through the strange environment.

After hours had passed without a change in the surroundings, Tenchi decided to take a break. He put down his baggage, took a bite from one of the hard cookies and threw it away in a quick motion only a few seconds later.

'Awful,' he thought and wondered whether this was really something to eat or actually some kind of fastwashdrops.

In order to get rid of the repulsive taste and since he was extremely thirsty by now anyway, he took a small sip from the water bottle. It wasn't easy to resist the urge of instantly spitting the cool liquid out again. However, Tenchi managed to bravely gulp down the high-proof mixture. Ryoko really was a strange person.

--

As the color of the sky began slowly changing to blue and the light of the day started to fade, Tenchi discovered a little fire in the distance.

After he had approached the bright spot up to a distance of only a few hundred feet, the idea came to him that the creatures who lived on a hostile planet like this might not help him at all.

Small squared buildings became visible, lit by the fire. Here and there blank metal reflected the light, so the huts were of advanced artificial nature and since Tenchi doubted that this planet had anything like a developed industrial society its residents had to have space ships at their disposal. How would they have gotten the raw material to this planet otherwise.

Fascinated by the logic of his own thoughts Tenchi crouched behind some thick tree-like plant and watched a woman, covered in long clothing, stepping up to the fire the next moment. She seated herself on a stool and stretched her hands out towards the warming flames. Then, in a slow motion, she removed the cloth that had kept her face hidden so far. Tenchi caught his breath as long blonde hair spread over her shoulders.

Over there, in front of the fire was sitting a woman, who actually looked very humanoid and far from hostile.

However, Tenchi wasn't about to get the chance to be glad about this discovery any further, because right then he was roughly pushed out of his hiding place by someone.

"Now who do we have here?" a scratchy but feminine voice asked.

Tenchi turned around and found himself looking directly into the barrel of an old GP-type blaster.

"Uh... I... was just going to... uhm...," he stammered and started scratching the back of his head making his embarrassment obvious.

"You were going to what?" he was interrupted, the weapon drawing even nearer to his nose.

"Uh... I kind of crash landed on this planet and I saw the fire, so I thought... maybe you could help." Tenchi finished the sentence in a whisper, the woman couldn't possibly have heard, but the blaster lowered a little anyway.

"Get up!" the voice ordered and even before Tenchi could do as much as flex a muscle he was seized at the collar and pulled to his feet.

"Hand over your weapon."

Tenchi had a bad feeling about slowly taking the Sonic-Blaster out of the holster and handing it to the woman. She gave the weapon only a brief look, then her eyes thinned in suspicion.

"Your gun, too."

Tenchi sighed quietly. Actually he had hoped for a moment that she had overlooked his other weapon.

"Come on, get going!"

The woman had stored his weapons away and pushed him hard enough to almost make him fall back down again, face first, but with some difficulty he managed to keep his balance. He had no choice but to stumble towards the fire like this.

"RINA!" Tenchi flinched visibly as his escort started shouting suddenly. It instantly got the attention of the woman in front of the fire as well.

"We have another mouth to feed this evening. Look who I have found here."

The other woman put her hands into her clothing again and got up. Suspicion was clearly readable on her young face as Tenchi stepped into the light of the fire.

"You are from the Jurai military?" she asked in an alarmed voice and took a step back, grabbing hold of something that was hidden beneath her clothes.

"No! I'm... well... I mean I'm not from Jurai. I'm... well..." Tenchi sighed. "It's a long story."

"And you will tell us, but not now. Are you alone?"

With these words the big woman, who had just accompanied him so kindly, stepped up next to him and gave him a thorough inspection.

Her massive stature was clearly visible under the wide dark garments, but her face did not show the calm and tranquil expression Tenchi had grown to associate with such corpulence. The corners of her mouth led to the assumption that the concept of smiling was unknown to this woman and the brows above the small piercing black eyes were drawn down deep enough for Tenchi to get the impression that he was facing an evil demon.

"Answer! And stop looking at me like I'm some kind of monster. Where are your Juraian friends?"

"I already told you. I am no Juraian and I have no Juraian friends. I crashed on this planet, alone. Believe me." Tenchi made the last statement with some urgency, hoping that he could convince them with the truth, as strange as it must have sounded.

It seemed that he had succeeded at least partially as the older woman hid her weapon under her clothes and gestured for him to follow her.

"Don't worry, Rina. I don't think he's a threat," she whispered to the other woman just loud enough for Tenchi to hear.

Then they left the comforting warmth of the fire and stepped into the shadows between the huts. They passed at least half a dozen of them, but only one seemed to be lit from within as much as he could make out through the randomly arranged windows. Tenchi was dying to know why the other huts seemed to be uninhabited and why people would settle on such a hostile planet in the first place, but he decided to hold the questions in for now and kept on following the big woman quietly.

She stopped in front of a hut that looked much like the others, the only difference was that it was a little more run down and obviously had no windows.

"You will stay here until I come get you. Understood?"

The woman opened the squeaky door and Tenchi was roughly pushed into the musty room.

"And don't get any ideas!"

"No way," Tenchi mumbled as the door was slammed shut and locked behind him.

Since he couldn't see anything in the complete darkness surrounding him now anyway, he just felt his way back to the wall and let himself slump down against it.

'Not a warm welcome,' his mind's voice observed and he slowly started to doubt that these people would support him with his plan to leave the planet. The uniform he was still wearing didn't appear to be all too helpful in winning their trust either.

But sitting in a dark and wet hole was still better than dying from dehydration out in the dessert. Besides the demon woman had talked about something to eat.

Stimulated by his hunger and the prospect of an upcoming meal, pictures of long laid tables, like he had once seen during the big GP receptions, shaped in Tenchi's head. Juicy roasts, tasty vegetables, omelets of eggs from all kinds of running birds, delicious cakes and sweet desserts...

... and although there seemed to be hundreds of guests, who all ate as much as they could, not a single one of the enormous plates could be emptied.

Now the young GP-Officer Masaki also made his attempt at the buffet, filled his plate to the rim with the substantial dishes and approached the bar.

Meanwhile the room had almost gotten overcrowded, people in blue uniform pushed past one another everywhere and Tenchi felt constricted suddenly. A glass of juice in one hand and the plate in the other he desperately searched for a free place, but there were none left anymore. The mass of blue uniforms stood in front of him like a wall and in their eyes, which were directed at him without exception, there was a hostility that made him shudder.

All of a sudden it had gotten totally quiet in the large room, only the noisy eating of a single person was still audible. The Officers also didn't seem to be eating anymore, instead some of them had their hands near their weapons.

After the first few drew their blasters Tenchi noticed that he wasn't the only center of their attention. He turned his head, just in time to see the last bite on his plate vanishing into Ryoko's mouth.

"That was marvelous, Tenchi," she said, placing her chopsticks on the empty plate.

"FIRE!" Tenchi heard the order, turned and watched as hundreds of little energy balls raced towards him.

"Wake up, boy."

Tenchi's eyes snapped open instantly, but his mind wasn't able to catch up with the change from dream to reality as quickly, so he only blinked in confusion. All the food was gone as well as the GP-Officers and instead of Ryoko the unkind woman was standing next to him now.

"Are you hungry?"

"Yes," Tenchi replied without hesitation and got to his feet as fast as possible.

"There's some food on the campfire, come on." The woman left the dark room and Tenchi hurried to follow her.

He wondered about how long he had been asleep. The sun had already set by the time he had entered his cell and it wasn't up again yet, so he simply decided that they had to be somewhere in the middle of the night, ignoring the fact that this knowledge was useless to him because he didn't know how long a night would last on this planet.

The cool air chilled him out of his contemplations, however, and rubbing his arms at his sides, he noticed that the inhabitants of the huts obviously still hadn't returned. Much like before the area was as silent as a graveyard.

Hung up above the fire, which was still in the same place as before, there was now a bulky pot. After Tenchi had seated himself on a small log within the warmth of the fire, like he was instructed, his guard took one of the bowls which were placed nearby and simply scooped some of the contents of the pot with it. All the while she did not take her eyes off Tenchi, staring at him with suspicion.

"You'll like this," she said with a devilish grin as she handed the bowl to Tenchi.

The dancing shadows caused by the flickering light of the fire prevented him from getting any decent idea of what he was going to eat and probably it was for the better, because the viscous soup seemed to be of a dark green color. Tenchi gulped and suddenly he really wasn't that hungry anymore.

"What's the matter? Dig in."

Tenchi slowly guided the bowl to his lips, but hesitated before sipping it.

"What is this?"

"Your last meal, boy," the woman answered without batting an eyelid.

"Mafe, don't be so cruel!"

The young woman Tenchi had come to know earlier stepped up to the fire and sat down next to him, still keeping some distance.

"It's what was leftover from dinner." She pointed at the bowl, which Tenchi was still holding halfway to his mouth.

"There would be easier methods to kill you, don't you think?" Mafe retorted harshly and threw her clothes open causally, so that her blaster would become clearly visible for Tenchi.

He nodded and started sipping the hot liquid. Actually it didn't taste as awful as it's color had indicated. Also he had a feeling that the taste was familiar to him in a strange way.

"Are they sleeping?" Mafe sat down next to Rina and prevented any further visual contact with Tenchi this way.

However, he was much too occupied with burning his tongue on the hot soup as to pay any decent amount of attention to the conversation of the two women.

"Yes. They wanted to know about the stranger," Rina replied quietly.

"They've seen him?"

Rina nodded. "I told them that his ship crashed some miles away."

"So they want to see it of course," Mafe stated flatly. "Damn! That's a load of shit."

"But why? I thought you said that he was no threat."

"I'm totally harmless," Tenchi confirmed with a full mouth and instantly got a harsh reprimand to stay out of the conversation.

A little later, after he had emptied his bowl to the last drop and the exchange of the two women seemed to have come to an end Tenchi decided that this was as good an opportunity as any and gave it another try.

"Are you going to help me to leave this planet?"

Mafe stared at him as if he had said something really stupid, but finally the corners of her mouth moved up a little.

"We are not to decide what is going to happen to you."

Rina leaned over, so that Tenchi was able to see her lips moving in the light of the fire.

"Once Burak is back we will have a voting, you will have to wait until then."

"Who is Burak?" Tenchi asked immediately.

Rina was about to answer, but Mafe silenced her with an obvious gesture.

"Well...," Tenchi pressed on, "... where are we anyway? I mean, which planet..."

"We are not going to answer your questions so save your breath," he was interrupted by the domineering woman.

"Come on, time to go to sleep."

Reluctantly Tenchi got up. Trying to talk to these people was really no use after all.

* * *

Most of the next day Tenchi spent in his small prison. He came up with uncounted escape plans, but finally trashed them all. Breaking out of this hut would be rather easy if one brought forth the necessary determination, but where to go after that? Tenchi didn't believe that he would be able to locate another colony on this dead world within the next few days, if there was one at all. So if Ryoko did return, she would find his body lying in the desert, dried up and lifeless. No, he had no choice but to stay and wait for this Burak. Perhaps he was a good man and would help a poor stranger to leave this hostile planet.

Throughout lunch near the charred remains of the campfire, he had tried to get some more information out of Rina about Burak's impending return, but she had only given him a smile and answered that he and his men were going to return once the mission was completed.

Tenchi was really curious what kind of job this was. He never got the chance to ask about it though, because Mafe had put a stop to the conversation at this point.

Later in the evening, however, he got another chance at some of the desired information. He awoke from his light slumber, as someone knocked on his door.

Some moments later a young voice whispered, "Hey, who are you, mister?"

Tenchi crawled over to the door and answered the kid in the same manner.

"My name is Tenchi and who are you?"

A moment of silence passed.

"I'm Danjo. Are you really a deserter from the Juraian army?"

Now it was Tenchi's turn to think of an appropriate answer.

"Well, I never was a member of the Juraian military to begin with. The clothes I'm wearing are only a disguise."

"Really?!" The kid's voice sounded excited. "So you're a spy? Whom are you spying for?"

"No, no, no," Tenchi laughed, but got serious a second later, as he realized that the kid in fact wasn't that far off.

"Let's just say that it's a long story. I'm going to tell it once that man named Burak arrives."

"But that won't be before next week."

"WHAT?!" Tenchi screamed, unable to believe what he had just heard.

"You mean he won't return within the next few days?"

"Nope," was the simple response.

"But...I have to get away from here...I have to...search for..." Tenchi stammered, but was interrupted by the boy's low voice.

"Oh, excuse me mister Tenchi, Mafe is coming, I have to go. Bye!"

"Bye," Tenchi murmured, disappointed.

--

The night was extremely cold, and unlike the previous one, Tenchi wasn't too tired to notice the icy air around him.

He was lying inside his hut, on a shabby bed, which made a terrible squeaking sound every time he cuddled up closer into the ragged cover he had discovered earlier.

Ryoko was probably sitting somewhere warm right now, counting her reward. Tenchi still couldn't understand why she had left him behind, it simply made no sense. But then again, that was of no importance anyway. Once he left this planet he would eventually capture her and bring her to justice.

--

The next morning something very unexpected happened. Tenchi was having breakfast with Rina and Mafe as usual, when a rumbling sound put a sudden end to the unpleasant silence between them.

"What's that?" Tenchi asked, his eyes fixed on the violet sky, where the source of the sound seemed to be located.

"They're coming home!"

Rina jumped up and quickly approached the two children, who had emerged from one of the huts, radiant with joy.

The sound became more intense and soon Tenchi could observe what had started out as small dots in the heavens growing in size and finally taking the distinct form of space ships.

Mafe rose from her seat as well.

"Prepare for telling a good story, boy," she said and got over to the kids as well, leaving behind a slightly confused Tenchi.

Half an hour later two dozen eyes were directed at him. Suspicion as well as curiosity was apparent on the faces of the men and women who had emerged from the ships a few minutes ago. At the sight of the stranger their chatter had died down immediately.

A short wiry man stepped out of the crowd and headed over to confront Tenchi.

"You aren't a Juarain spy, are you?" he asked slowly.

Tenchi shook his head quickly. The man, who was only little taller than Tenchi, however, just thinned his eyes a little and smiled oddly.

"I certainly hope so. My name is Burak and we..." he made a gesture, indicating all the people around, "... are the scary pirate community."

* * *

"What do you mean, you weren't able to retrieve the book!?" Yosho shouted at the pirate in front of him.

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. After meeting up with Kagato as planned the pirate had come over to his ship, as Yosho knew that no com link could be entirely safe and he wasn't going to take the risk. Only to tell him right away that he had failed with his mission and worse he made it sound like the most natural thing in the world.

The only reaction Yosho's angry question got out of the tall man in front of him was a barely visible frown, he made no attempt of explaining any further.

At this sight another thought came to Yosho and his anger dissolved completely. Why would this man even bother to meet up with him without the book? He had assumed that in case of failure the contract would be mutely canceled in the best interest of both parties. The pirate was probably scheming something.

Yosho made sure that he had easy access to Funaho's powers and asked the question that was on his mind.

"Why would you come here to tell me that? You are wasting my time."

Kagato's frown deepened a little, but he answered as calmly as ever.

"The book isn't out of reach yet."

This was unexpected. Yosho relaxed a little, but still kept his guard up.

"Why would this be?" he asked warily.

"Someone else succeeded where I failed," the pirate stated simply as if this answered the question.

Yosho was not a patient man and was annoyed at the pirate's manner of revealing only pieces of information.

"Stop playing games with me and just tell me what happened, damn it!" he shouted in Kagato's face, all of his anger instantly returning.

After a moment of silence, in which Yosho was barely able to control his fury, the pirate finally continued.

"The chance at the book was taken from me by another pirate, namely Ryoko."

This revelation made Yosho forget his rage and he sunk into contemplation about what he had just heard.

"Another pirate... Ryoko... the most qualified person... she...," he silently murmured to himself.

Finally he looked at the pirate again, a wide grin on his face.

"Well, it appears that I lost," he said with a chuckle, leaving Kagato utterly confused.

To the pirate the behavior of the man seemed to be most unstable.

"I can win it back from her," he offered, but Yosho dismissed it with a movement of his hand, obviously still having difficulties keeping his amusement to himself.

Kagato couldn't help the feeling that this man was somehow making fun of him and there were limits to even his composure. However, before he had a chance to voice his irritation at Yosho's behavior, the object of his attention spoke up again.

"That won't be necessary, I think. Just wait there a moment, I have to verify something."

Yosho knew that he wasn't supposed to contact Ayeka, especially not right in front of Kagato, but his curiosity had gotten the better of him. He needed to know right now.

'To hell with security,' he thought as he commanded his tree to locate Ryu-oh. Ayeka shouldn't be too far from his position, Yosho had noticed that she liked to keep track of his actions. And it turned out that he had been right, Ryu-oh was within com range.

"What is the meaning of this Yosho? You are not supposed to contact me," the image of Ayeka that had taken it's place on an immaterial screen within the room spoke up immediately.

Then realization and shock became clearly visible on her face.

"And what is that man doing there?" she asked upset and obviously doubting Yosho's state of mind.

"Don't mind him. Did you get it?" Yosho asked casually, ignoring her objections.

"I don't understand..."

"Aw, come on. You hired Ryoko right?" she was interrupted by her husband.

"Yes, but how would you know about that?" Ayeka's annoyance had turned into confusion as quickly as Yosho's earlier.

"He told me," he pointed at Kagato, who was watching the exchange with a great deal of interest, "So do you have it now?"

Ayeka managed to look even more confused.

"No, Ryoko didn't contact me like she was supposed to. You are playing a joke on me, right? You do have it, don't you?"

Yosho's amusement instantly vanished into a deep frown.

"No, I hired Kagato here, but he lost it to Ryoko," he stated flatly.

"Ohh... that bitch! She kept it for herself then. I knew I shouldn't have trusted her with this mission..."

"Okay, don't worry about this. I will take care of it and contact you again once I have the book."

"Yosho, wait...!" But she was cut off as Yosho closed the connection.

He slowly turned to face Kagato once more. The pirate had watched the entire display in silence and from his expression it wasn't possible to tell weather he understood what they had been talking about or not.

"You said you could take the book from Ryoko?" he asked with caution.

"Yes," the pirate answered simply.

"Then I want you to do so and bring it to me. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Contact me once you get it and we will meet again."

"We will." At these words Kagato turned around and disappeared, teleported back to his own ship.

Yosho just kept standing there, staring at the spot the pirate had occupied. He was lost in his thoughts. He knew that the book would be of no use to Ryoko, because she wasn't fit to access the knowledge within. But why would she keep it then? It made no sense.

'YOSHO!' a voice suddenly boomed in his mind, making him cringe. 'DO NOT CONCERN YOURSELF WITH THIS. THE BOOK WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU WHEN THE TIME COMES." It vibrated through Yosho's mind, wiping out all of his own thoughts.

"Yes, master," he replied mechanically.

* * *

A small crowd had assembled around the fire. Flames flickered high towards the dark blue sky and Tenchi's fantasy rose with them. He had just been asked to tell his story and now everyone was waiting curiously for what he was about to tell. But Tenchi remained silent. He had never been a very good liar, they were not going to believe the story he had come up with. However, the truth was much less likely to be believed.

"Hey, cat got your tongue?" someone shouted furiously.

"It seems you are not going to tell us, so we will have to ask you," Burak said calmly.

"And you better answer our questions," a woman's voice announced.

After the crowd had shouted their affirmation to the last statement, the leader of the small pirate group spoke up again.

"So your name is Tenchi, you say. Don't take me wrong, but that's not at all enough information. We cannot help you to leave the planet just because you said your name was Tenchi."

Everyone laughed and Tenchi started to feel more uncomfortable with every passing second. He had to do something, to say something or he would stand out as a total fool.

"I crashed with a rescue capsule. Someone had put me in there while I was asleep. So..."

He had planned on explaining the situation in more detail, but the sudden outburst of laughter from the crowd simply drowned out his voice. His plan had failed, now he was a total fool.

"Okay folks, let's start at the beginning." A man who was as tall as he was slim and had a pair of round glasses on his nose raised his arms in a calming gesture.

A few seconds later the laughter died down.

"You said you weren't Juraian, then why are you wearing a Juraian uniform?"

"Cause he's lying to us!" a red haired woman shouted immediately.

"No, I'm not," Tenchi tried to defend himself. "I had to dress up as a guard in order to do my job."

"So we're finally coming to the interesting part." Burak lit up a cigar and took a deep puff.

"You do not work for the Juraian empire, so who's your boss then?"

All eyes were fixed on Tenchi now and he had a feeling that his next words were eventually going to determine his fate. He was about to answer as Mafe, who was sitting far to the right of him suddenly started shouting.

"Didn't understand the question, boy? Whom are you working for? Answer!"

Tenchi withstood her gaze nervously.

"I'm working for nobody. I'm a free man. I do what I do just because I want to do it."

"Way to go!" someone shouted.

"Ask him to say it again!" another added and they both started giggling.

"We are also free men."

"And women!" Burak was interrupted by the red haired woman.

"We are free and for our actions we are answerable to nobody. We're pirates. We feed ourselves by robbing merchants and freighters. Most of them are headed for the Jurai system, so we are not on good terms with the Juraians and the Galaxy Police has been hunting us for years. In case you are involved with any one of these two parties, we can't help you, do you understand?"

"What Burak is trying to say is, we have to kill you then." A greasy fat man smiled directly into Tenchi's wide eyes.

Although Tenchi had his doubts that these people were simply going to kill him, telling them the truth about his origin and his motives for disguising himself as a Juraian guard wouldn't serve his purpose. Saying nothing wouldn't do either.

Staring at the dark wood, which was slowly consumed by the insatiable flames, Tenchi tried feverishly to find a practicable solution for this problem. He had to lie or at least hide some facts.

The man with the glasses finally ended the uncomfortable silence.

"Why would someone dress up as a Juraian? If you're working for yourself you can't be a spy. I'm really curious what you were trying to accomplish there."

"Perhaps he's a pirate too," a woman murmured in a sarcastic tone.

Tenchi straightened himself and let his gaze wander throughout the gathering of faces with as much confidence as he could muster.

"Some days ago I made my way deep into the Jurai system, in search of a valuable artifact."

While pondering his next words carefully, Tenchi kept studying the faces of the pirates. Over the shine of the fire distrust and suspicion were still evident in their eyes, so he had to tell them more.

"The artifact was hidden in a well guarded complex, so I knocked one man out and used his uniform. Disguised as a guard it was easier for me to break through to the relic."

He wasn't able to go on, because what he would have to say next was against all he believed in.

He had to anyway, because Burak asked. "Certainly your interest wasn't of archeological nature, so what did you do with this old thing?"

"I stole it." Tenchi spat out the sentence like some kind of poisoned drop and took a deep breath afterwards.

The reaction from the rows of the pirates was a surprised murmuring. It seemed that nobody really believed him, but at least nobody was laughing either.

"So you stole the artifact from the Juraians and escaped all on your own? Didn't you say a woman put you into a rescue capsule?"

"Well, she was some kind of a partner, but..." Tenchi stopped in mid sentence and stared at Burak.

He knew he hadn't mentioned any gender, so how could this pirate know...

"This well guarded complex did not coincidently happen to be the Alpha Base on a certain Jurai-moon?"

Tenchi was shocked. "It was, but..."

Burak never gave him the chance to finish his statement. "And the partner you were talking about was the dreaded space pirate Ryoko, am I right?"

Tenchi remained silent. Somehow he did not like the way in which Burak was phrasing the truth.

"Do you take us for a bunch of idiots? Presenting us with the story of Ryoko's last heist and then telling us you've been her partner... if you thought only for a second we would believe this story you were really naive, you know?"

"But it's true!" Tenchi shouted with some desperation.

"Just look at yourself!" the red haired woman's voice was heard over the roar of the crowd.

"You are no pirate, you're a cry-baby!"

"I don't remember the great Ryoko ever working with a cry-baby," a man announced immediately.

Shouts of approval and mocking laughter merged to a twirl in Tenchi's ears that made him feel nauseous. Some pirates stood up and took some steps towards him. He heard words like "Liar" or "Kill him" but was unable to react. All of this seemed like a bad dream to him at the moment. He was telling the truth, so why did nobody believe him?

"Why don't you believe me?" he mumbled, a bit to low to be heard.

"What are you waiting for? Show this bastard that he shouldn't lie to us a second time," the fat man shouted, raising his mighty fists.

"WHY DON'T YOU BELIVE ME!?"

This shout, filled with disappointment and anger instantly silenced the crowd.

"You want us to believe you?" Burak gave him a challenging look. "Then prove your story!"

"Sure I can."

"Sure he can," Someone repeated in a mocking tone.

But Tenchi didn't pay him any attention. "The man who is said to have pulled off the job together with Ryoko did wear a Juraian uniform. I'm wearing one, see?"

"Not a good argument, boy," Mafe said and Burak just shook his head in regret as well. "In fact it does actually prove your identity as a Juraian spy."

"Well...then..." Suddenly a great idea occurred to Tenchi. "You've taken my weapons. One was a GP-gun, the other one a sonic blaster. I used that weapon in order to escape from the complex."

This time it was Tenchi's turn to smile at the stunned faces of the pirates.

"A sonic blaster?" Burak repeated incredulously. "Is this true Mafe?"

The older woman gave Tenchi a dark look.

"It's true. I couldn't believe it myself at first, but he had a sonic blaster and a rather new model as well."

"Okay you have a point. I'm curious where you got a sonic blaster. Owning a forbidden weapon is very unusual for a member of Jurai's military forces, but neither is it proof for your story."

Some pirates grinned, watching the look of conviction in Tenchi's face being replaced by disappointment. There was only one last trump card he could play.

"I crashed with an escape pod some miles north of here. There must be a signature on it, marking it as part of the Souja." At least Tenchi hoped that this was the case.

Burak thought for a moment.

"Well. We can't check this before tomorrow."

"So you've one day more to live," the fat man added smiling widely.

"Be our guest till then. Mafe, please lead Tenchi to our guestrooms." Mafe stood up and motioned Tenchi to follow her.

"You'll see, I wasn't lying," he said, walking past Burak.

"We'll see," the short man replied and gave him a meaningful smile.

* * *

Tenchi's cell was opened even before the sun rose above the horizon the next morning and a woman entered. Without hesitation she walked over to the bed and remained standing there for several seconds, looking down at the sleeping young man.

She wasn't about to believe that this baby-faced boy was really the partner of Ryoko. But why would he tell such an obvious lie? Certainly he wasn't a spy either. Anyway, soon they would know.

"Wake up, Tenchi."

The boy opened his eyes immediately, not missing out on the surprised expression this elicited from the woman.

"Who are you?" he asked in an oblivious tone, at which she was unable to suppress a laugh.

"I'm a member of Burak's gang of course." She brushed back her curly blonde mane and smiled. "My name is Saira."

"Nice to meet you."

Not before Tenchi had finished the phrase he realized that he was in a rather unusual position for such a conversation and hurried to get up. It was obvious that again Saira had difficulties fighting back her amusement at the sight.

"You're a funny one, Tenchi," she said, still smiling. "But I'm not here for amusement. Burak wants to find out if your story is true. He awaits us at the Ashrow, come on."

Tenchi hastily got into the boots and armor of his Juraian suit and finally followed Saira, who was already waiting outside.

They left the village without meeting a soul, but as they neared the landing place they could see a small ship just lifting off.

"What's that?" Tenchi asked, pointing at the ascending vessel.

"That's the Zusom, Landsville's ship," Saira replied, well aware that that wasn't the kind of answer Tenchi had hoped for.

"Who is Landsville?"

"Remember the big guy with the glasses? Landsville. He's Burak's right hand and one of the most respected members of our gang."

As Tenchi remained silent Saira just continued. "He is one of the few who actually buy your story."

"So you don't believe me either," Tenchi stated, resignation evident in his voice.

"Well, let's just say your story is quite unbelievable. You know, most of our people admire Ryoko, she's like some kind of idol for us. She's free, totally independent and always does a good job. The question that arises is, why would she work together with someone?"

"She did so for more than a decade before," Tenchi countered.

"Yeah, I know. But that was something different. Kagato and Nagi were among the top pirates as well and they still are."

"But Nagi was caught by the galaxy police some years ago... uh... she's no pirate anymore."

Tenchi felt a strong urge to remind Saira of that fact. The young woman stopped and gave him a very serious look.

"You are no space pirate, are you? Otherwise you would know that being a pirate isn't a profession, a job you lay down when you feel like it or you are forced to. It's a destination. You are a pirate with all your heart, in every situation, all the time, your whole life. Remember this, Tenchi."

He nodded and Saira turned around to continue on her way.

"To put it plain and simple: You are not the kind of man a space pirate like Ryoko would choose as her partner."

Of course Tenchi knew that, but he hadn't thought it that obvious. Then again, he was glad that his true soul was still visible through the mask of half truths he had put up.

He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice Burak leaning against the hull of one of the ships.

"Morning," the man said without any expression on his face.

Tenchi tried to hide his surprise and returned the greeting.

"I want you to come, so you can show us your landing place and if you lied we can just leave you somewhere in the desert."

Tenchi hoped that the smile on Burak's face implied that his last words were only a joke. He turned to Saira nervously, but she just made a dismissive gesture.

"Don't worry, Tenchi. He's not serious."

Burak, who hadn't heard the whispered words started walking towards the hatch of the ship.

As he noticed that the two weren't following him he turned around and shouted, "Get on board already, I want to get going as soon as possible."

Had the leader of the pirate not spoken the words with such conviction, Tenchi would have doubted that this ship was actually able to leave the ground. The Ashrow must have been a graceful ship once. The slight, lengthy shape reminded Tenchi of the style of Dendorian ships. But where the Dendorians paid much attention to the visual condition of their ships, Burak seemed to have gotten into every space battle he could muster. The Ashrow's hull was pitted with marks of melted metal. The ugly wounds left by the plasma cannons had been treated only meagerly. Walking near one of the huge metallic patches Tenchi marveled again at such a ship still being able to fly.

But indeed, it was. Shortly after the hatch at closed behind Tenchi, the engines had given a short howl and the Ashrow was off the ground instantly. Now they were flying above the desert. Tenchi had seated himself near the left side window and watched the landscape down below with some curiosity.

The view wasn't an exciting one. In fact the Ashrow's altitude wasn't much more than hundred feet above the stony ground, but even from this height one already had a good view. The monotony of the seemingly endless desert of stone was only interrupted by the occasional dried up remains of a tree. A shiver made it's way down Tenchi's spine at the thought of never being able to leave this planet again.

"Now if that isn't a good spot you have chosen to crash," Burak said after Tenchi had shown him the direction he had come from two days ago.

"What do you mean?" Tenchi ventured to ask a little bit confused, but Burak didn't answer.

"I'll tell you later," Saira told him in a low voice. "Nobody likes to talk about what happened there."

Tenchi wondered what she could be talking about, but he finally came to the conclusion that he was going to find out soon anyway.

After they had left the ship, in order to seek out the escape pod, Burak continued the conversation.

"Right in this spot there was once an oasis of life in the desert, a flourishing little valley, inhabited by over a hundred people."

"Where did they go?" Tenchi stood behind Burak, so he couldn't see the sad smile appearing on his face.

"Have you ever seen the results of a Juraian Flash Bomb? It was in the middle of the night, nobody noticed the stealthy ship approaching the village, nobody heard the hissing sound of the infernal bomb... until it was too late."

Burak made a short pause and then, after getting a hold of the emotions caused by the memory, continued in a more neutral voice.

"The thick atmosphere prevents almost any kind of surface scans. Nobody could have known that there was someone hiding on the surface. But still, 58 people died that day and their village was totally destroyed." Burak turned around to Tenchi. "Someone had sold them out."

Tenchi couldn't stand the piercing glance for long and finally looked past Burak, over to Saira, who had already spotted the capsule.

"Come on! There's something engraved here," Saira shouted exactly at this moment.

Thankful for this chance to escape the situation Tenchi hurried past Burak towards the young woman and lowered himself beside her.

"That's a ship's code."

She pointed at a long row of numbers and letters engraved on the hull. Tenchi breathed in relief inwardly. Now he only hoped that Ryoko hadn't equipped her ship with stolen escape pods.

Burak had meanwhile stepped up behind Saira. "A490J-25848-U-870-7229OS3196," he read out aloud and frowned. "It seems I have to apologize to you, Tenchi. That's indeed the code of the Souja. So your story is true and you are really Ryoko's partner."

Tenchi blushed a little at Burak's last words, but as much as he wanted to clear up any misunderstandings about his relationship with Ryoko, it was hardly the right time and place for that.

"Wow, I can't believe it," Saira exclaimed, looking at Tenchi as if she was seeing him for the first time.

The object of her attention just smiled. "So are you going to help me now?" he asked.

Burak put a cigar into his mouth, lit it up and took a puff.

"We'll decide about it this evening, once Landsville is back and confirms your story."

--

On their way back to village, Tenchi realized something. After thinking about it for a couple of minutes he directed a question to the leader of the pirate gang.

"How did you know that the marking really belonged to the Souja?"

It was very unlikely that a man like Burak had undergone the effort of memorizing an over 20 digit code.

Burak gave him an amused look. "Look into the spaceship registration chart and you will find for certain that this code does not exist. The reason I know that it's one from Ryoko's ship is 'cause it was written there."

Tenchi was about to ask for an explanation, but Burak turned his attention back to the navigation panel.

Saira, however, noticed Tenchi's bemused look.

"Didn't you see it? The letters of the name Souja were written on the hull. Every pirate changes the code of his ship and often he implements the ship's name. You should know that."

"Well... I knew it..." Tenchi said lamely, starting to scratch the back of his head. "I just forgot for a moment."

"Strange guy," Saira murmured and Burak nodded.

* * *

The night sky extended over the heavens of the planet Jurai. It's forests were bathed in a dim silvery light by the two largest moons and the stars. It was a beautiful scene, not even the huge cities, which were still bustling with life managed to disturb the peace of the picture. Their unusual architecture almost made them a part of the woods.

Unlike most other civilizations the Juraians built their cities in a symbiosis with nature. The people could feel the peace and calm of the trees that had lived through centuries of change without changing themselves and the woods allowed the people and their cities to become part of them and share their tranquility throughout the day and the night.

It was in a huge building in the outskirts of one of those towns that a man was led down a corridor who didn't share the tranquility of the trees. The very fact that he was on this planet and the thought about exactly where he was headed upset the man and made him feel very uncomfortable.

Most likely this was because he wasn't a Juraian and not very often had he been to the center of the greatest empire in the galaxy before.

Actually it had only been two times before, each time on an official mission and each time it had turned out to be a very unpleasant experience. The last time he had to visit the planet had been two years ago and he had walked down exactly the same corridor he was walking now, in order to meet the same man he was about to meet.

The Admiral had to hold back a frown at the thought of Preceptor Kunrin. The main leader of the knight forces and head of inter-planetary security was one of the most influential men in the chain of command on Jurai, directly above him stood only the Emperor himself and the council of course. But to the Admiral he had made the impression to be as unpleasant a man to deal with as he was powerful. Certainly Kunrin was a major factor in the strained relations between the GP and Jurai.

He sighed despite himself, drawing a disapproving look from the guard who was escorting him.

He had no idea what he had done to deserve this. Why did headquarters always send him to negotiate with the Preceptor? Why did he have to be the one to dine with Kunrin? Questions to which he would probably never get an answer, because the ways of the High-Chiefs of headquarters where as unpredictable as the ways of fate sometimes. So he simply settled with the thought that it was fate that brought him back here after two years, in order to finally end a competition that had been started back then.

"Admiral, Preceptor Kunrin awaits, please enter," the guard invited him as he placed himself next to the door, which would lead to the dining room.

With another sigh the Admiral entered and prepared himself for what was to come.

"Ah, Admiral Marunak, it's a pleasure to see you again, especially regarding the circumstances of your visit." He had a grin on his face that was almost a smirk and seemed to add, 'So you finally came crawling back to me after all.'

"Preceptor Kunrin," Marunak greeted simply with a firm nod.

"Make yourself comfortable..." he gestured towards one of the two places at the table that had quite a variety of exquisite foods on it. "... I made sure that you will enjoy your meal and we won't be disturbed."

"Thank you for the hostility... uhm... I mean hospitality, Preceptor."

Kunrin's face darkened visibly at that and Marunak mentally noted that he had scored the first point in their conversation, even if it wasn't in the most original of ways.

Both men walked over to the table and took their respective seats on opposite sides of it.

"Feel free to help yourself. I am aware that the merits of Juraian wine can't be appreciated by the Galaxy Police, so I had something less substantial prepared for you," Kunrin explained with a gesture to the unpleasant gut-rot that was the content of Marunak's glass.

"Well, thank you for your efforts."

These were the last words that were said before they started eating in silence, all the time staring holes into each other rather than concentrating on their food.

After a long time and both of them having stuffed themselves sufficiently, Kunrin finally broke the silence to bring up the actual reason for all of this.

"So the GP has finally come to it's senses, I knew it was only a matter of time."

Marunak was a little shocked at the insulting tone in which Kunrin opened the conversation, he had almost forgotten what this man was really capable of.

"I'm here to officially announce to the empire of Jurai that the Galaxy Police is going to hand over the criminal Ryoko as a present to show our good will and to hopefully improve our teamwork with the empire. We only have to arrange the point and time of..." Marunak had tried to ignore Kunrin's comment and get this over with as fast as possible but he was interrupted by the Preceptor before he could finish.

"Spare me this story," he said with a grunt. "We've known each other for a long time now and I think we can speak freely here. The last reason why the GP is doing this would be good will," he accused.

"I don't know what you are talking about," Marunak lied.

He knew all too well in fact. It may have seemed like the GP had the trump card in this game, which they were willing to offer to Jurai, but that wasn't the whole truth and unfortunately Kunrin seemed to know that.

"Nobody is able to hold a criminal like Ryoko forever, but the GP abolished execution of prisoners a long time ago. So you just give her to us, let us do the work and even keep your face in the process." He almost spat out the last sentence.

Once again Marunak noticed that this man obviously had a strong dislike for the Galaxy Police.

"And what if you were right?" the Admiral asked quietly.

"Nothing..." Kunrin answered, with the usual grin on his face, having regained his composure, "We would still get it over with. Ryoko has to be punished by Juraian law for the crimes she has committed against the empire. I only want you to know that Jurai is not going to bow to you for your so-called act of good will. It's as much for your advantage as for ours, nothing less, nothing more."

"So when do you want the hand over to take place?" Marunak asked straight out.

Kunrin put up a thoughtful face and it took him a moment to answer.

"Well, I think I will be able to make the necessary preparations within a week. You will be able to hold her for one more week, won't you?"

Marunak frowned, but kept himself from clenching his fists in anger.

"I think we will," he said as calmly as he could manage considering the situation.

"Good, it will take place here on Jurai and in public."

This time the Admiral couldn't keep his jaw from dropping at what he heard. These conditions were totally unacceptable. Soon the rumor about the GP's true reasons to hand Ryoko over would spread, Kunrin wouldn't have it any other way. He wanted to humiliate the GP in public.

"Actually we had thought about a more neutral place for the handover..."

"You are going to go with our conditions or you can keep the pirate to yourself," Kunrin interrupted sharply.

The urge to use violence against this man suddenly arose inside the Admiral and he had a hard time fighting it down. Headquarters had instructed him to try and make this as easy as possible on them, but in no case he was to screw it up. They needed to get rid of Ryoko badly, because they had made the mistake of miscalculating her powers. The facilities of the GSP didn't suffice for containing her safely and as long as she was there security was at permanent risk. Headquarters wasn't going to like this, but he had to go with Kunrin's conditions.

"Alright, we accept," he stated flatly.

"Very well," Kunrin added with one of his patented smiles.

"I guess everything is set then. We will stay in touch about this."

Marunak started getting up. Right now there were few things he wanted as badly as to get out of this room and away from this man before he did something he would regret later.

"Just one more moment Admiral..." Marunak hesitated. "Do you happen to know anything about a man named Tenchi Masaki?"

The Admiral slowly sat back down again. Of all people he wouldn't have expected to hear Tenchi's name in a situation like this.

"Why would you want to know about that?" he asked, his eyes narrowed.

"Well, we recently had an incident where a GP patrol ship registered to a man named Tenchi Masaki was involved. I think the name was Yagami. We did some research and found out that the ship was stolen by Masaki after the incident two years ago and he is on the GP wanted list since then. I just hoped you could give me some more information about him."

This was bad. Tenchi had managed to get himself into something again. Marunak knew that his old friend and pupil wasn't a bad guy, he just happened to be on the short side of luck sometimes. Two years ago he had tried to clear things up for Tenchi, but it seemed that someone didn't want him to do that and the one had done a good job at covering his tracks. If he had inquired further he would have ended up loosing his post, so he had to leave things as they were.

He hadn't heard much about Tenchi in the past two years, in fact he had assumed that he was never going to hear from him again, but he had probably managed to be on the short side of luck once again somehow.

"What kind of incident would this be and why didn't you inform the GP immediately if a former Officer was involved?" Marunak asked more curious than annoyed.

"It's a tricky matter and Jurai decided to take care of it by itself, but I thought you might know something about Masaki..." He shrugged, "... I guess I was wrong."

Suddenly Marunak remembered something very disturbing. His visit to a certain Jurai moon base had been cancelled because of some incident that had occurred there recently. Kunrin couldn't be possibly referring to that? If Tenchi had involved himself in something like that, there was really cause to worry.

"Masaki is a good man," Marunak stated simply, much to the surprise of the Preceptor. "Whatever you are accusing him of, he probably isn't guilty."

He knew that he shouldn't say these things and that they could get him in trouble, but he felt obligated to defend Tenchi. Of all the people in the universe perhaps he was the last one who deserved any accusations.

"You are speaking rather highly of the partner of the infamous space pirate Ryoko, don't you think?"

Marunak just rolled his eyes. "Oh, spare me with that, it's complete nonsense. If you knew Tenchi you would realize that he wasn't the person to harm others intentionally."

"Tenchi? You seem to know Mr. Masaki rather well. Maybe he deceived you?"

Marunak rose from his seat in a swift motion and slammed his hands on the table.

"That's enough!"

"Now there's no reason to lose your temper. You seem to have a lot of trust in that friend of yours if you are even willing to go so far as to doubt the judgment of the very institution you are working for, but I'm afraid that I have to tell you that this trust is misplaced..."

Marunak was about to speak up, but was silenced by a gesture from Kunrin.

"He used your identity to cause the empire of Jurai a lot of trouble, together with Ryoko."

The Admiral was dumbstruck. Could he have misjudged Tenchi so badly? Could this nice and pure young man have fooled him for years? No, he couldn't believe this, much less coming from a person like Kunrin.

"In case you want our help with Tenchi Masaki you will have to file your incident with the Galaxy Police. I can't give you any further information without knowing the details of the case."

If he was right with his assumption, there was no way that Kunrin was going to do this.

"That's too bad, I guess we are on our own then," the preceptor said with faked regret.

"Well, I guess we are set then." He took a step away from the table and gave Kunrin a curt nod. "Thank you for the evening, Preceptor. I will find my way out myself."

With that he turned around without waiting for a response and walked over to the door.

"It's always a pleasure to talk to you, Admiral. I'm looking forward to meet you again," he heard Kunrin say just before he left the room.

It turned out that it wouldn't be easy for Marunak to forget the conversation he just had.

* * *

A sharp wind was blowing across barren land. His back turned towards the village Tenchi gazed up into the sky wistfully. The day was already coming to it's end, which wasn't surprising to him, because he couldn't remember at all how he had spent the whole afternoon. The laughing voices of playing children were carried to his ears from far away.

At what felt like a small eternity ago to him now, Tenchi himself had trained the high art of physical combat together with Danjo and his friends.

After he had returned and word had spread that he had really worked together with Ryoko, everybody had been interested in him all of a sudden.

A small group of pirates, lead by the red haired woman who had been so hostile the last evening, but by then had kindly introduced herself as Nana, had questioned him curiously. Of course Tenchi had refrained from explaining all of his adventures with Ryoko in detail. Instead he had only given short and evasive answers, so that their interest in the conversation had eventually ebbed away.

However, as soon as the adults had left, the kids had come. A boy with untidy blonde hair, whose age Tenchi had estimated on eight years, had come running over to him, followed by two younger lads and a girl.

"Hi, Mr. Tenchi. Sorry, I really didn't want to lie to you, but dad wasn't supposed to come back till next week."

Tenchi had looked down at the kid in confusion, then realization had dawned on him.

"You are Danjo, right? We've talked a day ago."

"Right." The boy had nodded.

Tenchi had felt kind of at a loss at what to do next, but suddenly another youngster had pushed his way through to him.

"Please tell us something about mighty Ryoko, will ya?"

The other kids had quickly and loudly joined into the request. Tenchi had shaken his head in refusal, but the boys hadn't been about to give up.

"My mom said you were with her, so please tell us about your adventures."

"Please Mr. Tenchi, just a short story. Or at least tell us what the great Ryoko is like."

"Sorry kids," Tenchi had murmured and attempted to leave, but Danjo had clung to his hand.

"But you are her boyfriend, aren't you?"

"Of course I'm not!" Tenchi had shouted impulsively.

"Well... I have been her partner only for this job," he had continued in a more appeasing voice.

"So you won't work together with her again?" the girl had asked sadly.

"I won't," Tenchi had replied, feeling a strange pang in his heart at the words.

Finally he had given in to the kids' urging, noticing that some of the older pirates already gave him strange looks, and played attack and defense with them.

He had given out and received punches until...

... until Landsville had returned.

Tenchi sat, arms crossed over his bent knees, in the shadow of an rusty brown ship, his gaze not really resting on something in front of him, but diverted into emptiness. His minds eye once more reviewed the scene that had played out some hours ago.

The tall man had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, sent away the kids with a gesture and finally turned to Tenchi after they where out of earshot.

"Ryoko was caught by the Galaxy Police. She is being held in the GSP right now and will be handed over to Jurai next week."

Tenchi's mouth had popped open. He had wanted to contradict what he had heard, but he had found himself unable to phrase a single word.

Landsville had just given him a sympathetic look and murmured, "Looks really bad for her."

Then he had walked over towards another group of pirates.

Ryoko caught by the GP? That was simply impossible. A pirate with her abilities would have been able to fight herself out of any trap they may have set for her. And surrender to the police would have been the last thing Ryoko would do. Perhaps Landsville was wrong. Tenchi didn't know where he was getting his information from anyway. He was definitely wrong. Ryoko was somewhere out there, already planning her next heist...

But what if he was right after all...

Tenchi sighed and let his head hang onto his arms. Why was he feeling so bad about the idea of Ryoko being arrested? She was a criminal, broke the law, harmed the people. Not to forget, he himself had spent the last two years chasing after her. Wasn't it his greatest wish to finally see Ryoko behind bars? She was a threat. She belonged in a prison. So why did he feel sorry for her now? Was it because he had learned that she wasn't as cruel and violent as everybody said?

He remembered their conversation back on the bridge of the Souja. Ryoko did honestly believe that what she was doing was right, though it was obvious that she was wrong.

"The universe isn't fair, Tenchi!"

He remembered these words clearly. But Ryoko was wrong. The universe was fair, locking her up was the best punishment for a space pirate he could imagine.

But Landsville had said something about handing her over to Jurai. At this thought Tenchi started to feel even more uncomfortable. He had often heard about how the Juraians treated their prisoners. Especially that those who had harmed the empire would see no mercy.

At the time he had still been at the GP academy, a rumor had spread that a murderer handed over to the Juraian government a few weeks ago had died. Somebody had forgotten to give him food. Back then the administration of the GP had decided to hand over prisoners only in exceptional cases.

Ryoko stealing the holy book of Jurai probably was such a case. Certainly the GP was left no choice but to hand her over. Perhaps she would be able to use the chance to escape during the procedure. But Juraian security systems were usually very tight and the military would set everything on preventing Ryoko from getting away.

"Damn," Tenchi murmured, clenching his fists.

What was he supposed to do now?

The sound of approaching footsteps startled him out of his thoughts.

"This is really bad news. I've never even thought it possible to capture her."

"Nobody did."

Tenchi instantly recognized Saira's voice. The other one was a woman as well. He knew he had heard this rough voice before, but he was unable to put it together with any of the female pirates he had met so far.

"Perhaps this Tenchi has lured her into a trap."

As she said so Tenchi was about to stand up and deny it, soon they would notice him anyway, because they were walking straight in his direction. However, before he had a chance to push himself up against the hull of the ship, Saira defended him.

"Haven't you heard what Landsville said? It was the GP who trapped her. There's no blame to put on Tenchi. I've watched him as Landsville gave him the news, he was as shocked as the rest of us."

"Then he's a good actor," came the gruff reply.

Saira sighed. "Nana, don't make a fool of yourself. You were the first one to call him a cry baby in the beginning, right? If he really wanted to betray us there would have been better ways to do it. Just stop making up silly theories and let's start repairing the oxygen tanks, before it gets too dark."

Tenchi could hear the two doing something on the ship. A loud screeching noise came with the opening of a hatch. At first Tenchi thought that the two woman would enter the ship now, but it turned out that they had only removed a panel, because after a short pause Tenchi heard their voices again.

They were having a rather technical conversation now where he wasn't able to understand everything. In fact Tenchi wasn't the person to listen in on conversations behind peoples backs, but he had hidden way too long for a friendly "Hello, here I am." to work out.

Perhaps this was the right moment for a discreet exit.

He got to his feet quietly and carefully took a few steps around the ship. The first huts of the village were already visible, but then he heard Saira's voice from a frighteningly close distance.

"I need the welding tool."

A rumbling sound became audible.

"Here you are. I will check the circuit in the meantime."

No more words were spoken and Tenchi considered taking the risk and trying to get past behind them while they seemed to be busy.

Something exploded.

"SHIT!! Damned old piece of trash! Do that again and I will saw you into small pieces!"

"If I were your ship, I would explode right into your face too," Saira said laughing.

"Watch your tongue or you may find out exactly how sharp an amp meter can be!"

"The welding tool would be much more effective."

Tenchi wondered if they were being serious about what they were saying, but Nana's shrill laughter made it obvious that they weren't.

"Let's postpone the fight of power tools, okay?"

Nana agreed and they carried on with their work.

Tenchi decided to take another way back to the village. It was going take him much longer, but if he wanted to stay unnoticed he would have to walk in a large circle around the village.

He had just taken the first three steps as Saira said something that awakened his interest.

"Know what, Nana. Tonight we'll find out if Tenchi is the person he pretends to be for certain."

"What do you mean by that?" Nana seemed to be as confused as Tenchi.

"This evening there will be a big meeting. Originally the fate of our guest was going to be discussed, but considering the news, Ryoko's captivity will probably be the topic number one."

"Of course it will, but what's the point?" Nana asked impatiently.

"Most of us almost see Ryoko as some kind of deity. She is the epitome of the space pirate. Some of us would rather die than let the GP hand her over to Jurai."

"I know that. Don't think I've forgotten what happened after Nagi was captured. For over two months Bogly tried to talk Burak into storming the GSP."

"That's just what I mean. But this time Bogly will have some more men behind him."

"You mean..." Nana stopped in mid-sentence and Saira provided the missing words.

"...Burak will have to give in to them and he is actually willing to do so."

Silence followed until Nana seemed to remember the starting point of the conversation.

"But what has the boy to do with that?"

"Well... in case he's really a pirate and worked together with Ryoko, he should be concerned enough about her to be the first one to suggest her rescue."

The dialog dragged on for a few minutes, but Tenchi wasn't able to follow it anymore. What he had heard had shocked him thoroughly. He was supposed to suggest Ryoko's rescue? That was impossible, he couldn't do that. To help a space pirate escape was against all what he believed to be right. But strangely, the idea of helping out Ryoko was not as weird as it was supposed to be.

Long after Saira and Nana had left the place, Tenchi still sat leaned against the rusty metal and contemplated. The wind had increased into a small storm and made the little stones dance over the ground.

But not before the sky had turned completely black did Tenchi stand up and walked towards the village with the wind in his back.

--

The lanes seemed to be deserted. Not a soul could be seen and the familiar crackling of the fire was missing as well. This time the fire wasn't the place of the meeting, however, it still wasn't too difficult for Tenchi to find the right way. A hut, a little bigger than the others, was lighted brightly and Tenchi believed he could hear voices from within.

After a short hesitation, he opened the door and entered. Now he was standing in some kind of anteroom with a short floor. At the end of it, was a small wooden door.

"Hello Tenchi," a female voice said.

Tenchi spun around. He hadn't noticed that he wasn't alone in the room.

"Oh Rina, hello." Tenchi waved and walked over to her.

The woman was sitting on a chair, on the far end of the corridor. As Tenchi came closer he saw that she was holding a baby in her arms. And as he was standing directly in front of her he noticed that she was breastfeeding the child.

He felt himself blushing and quickly turned away in embarrassment. Rina did not even raise her head to look at him. Instead all her attention was focused on the baby, even as she spoke words that were distinctly directed at Tenchi.

"So you have decided to join us? Then go in. Everybody is waiting for you."

Tenchi wanted to respond, but Rina's behavior made it obvious that there was no need for more words. Finally he just nodded and approached the wooden door.

As Tenchi entered the stuffy little room, a mighty voice rose above the general chatter.

"Ah Tenchi! Take a seat. We were about to begin."

Tenchi took in his surroundings. The room reminded him of his own guest quarters. The walls were barren, the ground covered with a layer of dust. The old and improvised benches were packed with men and women, some even sat directly on the ground. Three lamps provided a dim light from the corners of the room. The smell of alcohol and sweat was omnipresent.

Taking a seat was easier said than done. There was no free place and in the faces of the pirates that had turned at his entrance he could see nothing but indifference. Nobody would offer him a seat here. Just as this realization sunk in on him, Saira who sat in the front row near Burak, called over to him.

"Come Tenchi, there's a place left for you here."

Tenchi pushed past the red haired Nana, the hostile fat guy and uncounted other pirates, most of whom were totally unknown to him and finally reached the free place Saira had indicated.

As soon as he had placed himself near the blonde woman, Burak stood up. Silence crept into the room. The eyes of all those present were directed at the wiry man, who looked at his crew with deliberation.

"Guess, I don't have to tell you why we meet this evening."

Burak made a pause until the murmur of affirmation had died down.

"We are going to decide about Tenchi's fate. As you know we found some evidence for the unbelievable story of our guest. The capsule, in which Tenchi has landed, carries the marking of the Souja and Landsville..."

Burak stopped as the man whose name he had just spoken stood up.

"... well, tell them what you've heard out there," he finished and sat down.

Landsville adjusted his glasses and got to the core of the matter right away.

"There are rumors out there, which are telling that Ryoko has worked with two partners on the Jurai-moon. One of them is said to have been Kagato, the description of the other one, who escaped together with Ryoko fits with our friend here."

The tall man gave Tenchi a friendly wink, who returned the gesture with a short smile.

"Ryoko's ship vanished somehow after they left the moon. Two days later, it is said, she was brought to the GSP by a single Officer. There is no trace of the loot so far, but the GP seems to consciously ignore this whole affair."

Landsville sat down again and suddenly Tenchi felt himself being the center of attention.

"Why don't we ask him?" someone shouted and the greasy fat man, who was sitting right behind Tenchi continued the thought.

"Yeah, he probably has betrayed her and taken the loot for himself."

Some mumbled agreement, others protested vehemently.

"Stop talking nonsense, Bogly!" Nana turned around.

"Do you really think that somebody would be able to fool the great Ryoko like that?"

Silence followed after this and nearly everybody nodded or murmured agreement in one way or the other.

"Right you are," Burak said with determination. "However, we are not here to talk about what happened to Ryoko's loot. We are here to decide what's going to happen to her former partner. Tenchi, what are you expecting from us?"

The moment Tenchi had feared all the time had finally come. He had thought a lot about what to say, but now he couldn't remember a single word. Feeling the gaze of all the pirates upon him, he slowly stood up and turned around to face them.

As he did so, the room turned so quiet, it was almost frightening. Tenchi knew that everyone expected him to start a rousing speech now, but he couldn't do that. His throat was dry and his eyes were burning from the smoke of the room. Just as the silence was about to turn into embarrassment, the door was opened.

Rina entered, the baby hidden from sight under her clothes. She winked at Tenchi and gave him a supportive smile. A small gap formed in the last row and she slipped in gracefully.

Tenchi had no idea why, but her warm smile had given him more confidence. He was about to do the right thing.

"Ryoko was not only a partner to me."

He felt his heart starting to beat faster at these words, probably because he wasn't used to lying.

"I have never seen a pirate as capable as her. I have gotten to know her as short tempered, but friendly, violent but at the same time..."

Tenchi blushed fiercely. Had he really been about to say "loving"?

Some pirates smiled.

"Well, she's a woman, isn't she?" someone shouted.

"We all honor Ryoko for her character and her abilities," Landsville said.

"I know," Tenchi replied lamely. "What I was about to say was that I don't want her to suffer in imprisonment on Jurai. I..."

A powerful wave of doubts and pangs of conscience washed over his mind and he had a hard time fighting them back. The idea of helping the most dangerous space pirate with her escape appeared to be utterly insane, but in fact Tenchi had thought of a few good reasons for such an act. He had to make these people believe he was a pirate too. And then there were his mysterious powers, that seemed to be connected with Ryoko in a strange way. She had to know something about that. It was painfully obvious that he had long passed the point of no return.

"I'm going to free Ryoko and ask for your support."

Some seconds of silence passed, then Bogly stood up and shouted, "Let's free Ryoko!"

Immediately Nana and some other guys joined him and soon the chorus had increased to an immense volume.

"Let's free Ryoko! Let's free Ryoko!"

"Okay, that's enough!" Burak's voice was barely audible.

"Seems we don't need a voting. But..."

He waited until everybody could hear him.

"... breaking into the GS prison isn't going to be a walk in the park."

"We will do it!" Nana shouted with determination. "We will free Ryoko!"

"... and Nagi!" Bogly added, drawing surprised looks.

Burak ignored his words. "Well, the handover will be next week, so we have to act fast. Let's make a plan."

Tenchi smiled.

* * *

Chapter notes:

This time most of the chapter was written by my sister and translated by me. The only parts that are originally from me are the one with Yosho and Kagato and the one with Kunrin and Marunak. Let me assure you that the next chapter will venture somewhere really unexpected.

See you there.

Thanks to Serathim, where ever you are, and Geor-sama for helping me out with this one.


	9. Ancient Nightmare

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of their original creators and all those affiliated with them. I have neither created them, nor do I own them. Any new characters as well as the events within this story are created by me and my sister, so they are our property. This story is written for fun and as an homage to the world of Tenchi.

* * *

Chapter 8 - Ancient Nightmare

Trake strolled down a corridor without paying any attention to his surroundings. His mind was still trapped in the past. Particularly it was replaying an event that had occurred two days ago, but didn't fail to infuriate him beyond comparison every time he thought about it.

"I'm sorry, but Admiral Marunak is currently unavailable. He had to leave for the planet Jurai, where he is going to have an important meeting. But he told me to let you know that he is very pleased with your good work."

It had been clearly visible that the blonde secretary was enjoying the sight of Trake almost gnashing his teeth in anger. Of course this only added to his irritation. He had risked his life in order to bring this damned space pirate down and all he got to hear was "Good work."? No instant promotion, no decoration, not even a "You're our best officer."? That had been most unexpected and unacceptable.

"Thank you. Please tell the Admiral that it's my job to arrest criminals, so I will keep it up."

After Trake had spoken these words without any hint of the anger burning inside of him, he had turned around and left the office deep inside the GP's enormous headquarters.

Admiral Marunak was a complete idiot. Trake had realized this instantly the first time he had met the well dressed man with the unshakeable belief that the good would always overcome the evil by staying true to it's ways. There were a lot of such people in the GP, but only very few of them had reached the rank of an admiral. Trake was thankful that his direct superior had been a man of other beliefs.

Unfortunately his superior had been dismissed just out of the blue recently. Otherwise Trake would have probably gotten the reward he deserved and desired. But now Admiral Marunak was next in his line of superiors.

He hadn't expected the odds to be turning against him so much all of a sudden. Maybe his superior had made a mistake and got caught? Maybe they had made him talk and were starting a cleanup operation now? But no, there wasn't going to be a revolution inside the GP any time soon. People like Marunak were simply lacking the cleverness to initiate such an act. It was probably just a matter of them not recognizing his abilities. He just had to continue his work, like he had told the secretary. He was going to make them see.

Two of the infamous gangster trio he had already nailed. If he brought to justice all three, even Marunak would be left no choice but to take him seriously.

"Commander Trake."

For a moment Trake just stared in confusion at the young GP recruit, who saluted respectfully in front of him.

"Tenth floor, I assume."

But not before the man took a step to the side and Trake's stare came upon the secured lift, his thoughts returned to the present. Angry about his inability to ignore the sickening setback, his eyes thinned and he gave the man a dark look.

Without any reply the commander stepped into the lift. But the young man had obviously interpreted his behavior correctly. The door closed and the elevator moved upwards.

Near the eighth floor the lift stopped and Trake was informed by a friendly female voice to prepare for another retina-scan. He was absolutely sure that this hadn't been required the last time he had visited.

"What the hell? Better not exaggerate the security checks," he cursed.

"We will not," the voice replied, much to Trake's surprise, who had automatically assumed the voice to be generated by a computer. "All checks are necessary to prevent any invasion or escape of unauthorized individuals. Now please put your hand on the DNA-recognizer."

Trake mumbled some contemptuous words, but followed the instruction nevertheless. Some seconds passed and the lift set in motion again.

As the door finally slid open the commander took a deep breath. As frustrated as he was he knew that he would have no chance to get the pirate to tell him what he wanted to know. He had to calm down. It wouldn't do him any good to trouble himself over the incapacity of the people around him.

"Welcome, Commander Trake."

As Trake noticed the young brown haired man he smiled evilly. He had found a target for his anger.

"Ah, the incompetent security man," Trake said, still smiling. "I'm surprised that you're still wearing your uniform." He faked a thoughtful face and continued, "Something must have gone wrong."

"Sir?" the young man asked, intentionally pretending to not understand the connection.

At the sight of the false confusion and hidden anger on the other man's face, Trake already felt his bad mood decreasing.

"Oh, nothing important." He gestured dismissively.

Trake made no move to go on, resulting in an unpleasant silence.

After the commander had looked down the young man for almost a minute Rim lowered his head.

"Well," Trake said, his voice rising as if he was going to speak a sentence. "I'm going to visit a prisoner." And without waiting for an answer he walked past the guard.

But he had made only a couple of steps as he turned around one more time. "Oh, nice that you remembered my name. Unfortunately that won't do you any good in the more fitting duty of garbage collector to which you are hopefully going to change soon."

Brought into a much lighter mood by this last blow, Trake resumed his way.

Jonan Rim felt a strong urge to take out his weapon, aim at the head of this incredibly arrogant person and pull the trigger. But of course he didn't give in to his desire, instead he just kept standing there, motionless, and stared after Trake, cursing inwardly.

This man really was worse than everything he had heard about him and Rim had heard a lot since his first encounter with the Commander. To reassure himself that Trake had really been bluffing the last time he had visited the tenth section, Jonan had casually asked some of his colleagues and bosses at headquarters if they knew him. The responses he got were kind of odd. Mentioning his name to one of his superiors had made them smile. "A good police man. Everyone should follow the example of his strong sense of duty and conscience."

But nearly everyone of his colleagues had had an unpleasant encounter with the Commander at least once in the past. "He's a loudmouth who thinks nobody will notice his incompetence as long as he orders around his subordinates."

Trake was mostly known only because of his bad behavior and many were actually surprised when Rim told them, that he was the hero who captured Nagi two years ago.

He himself couldn't believe it either at first. There were only two possibilities, either Trake was hiding his true abilities behind an arrogant mask, or he was a sly and slimy liar. Rim had tended to believe the latter. However, after one week ago the rumor had spread that someone had caught the dreaded space pirate Ryoko and it turned out that Trake had been the one, he didn't know what to think anymore.

Like all the others Rim had read the official report instantly as it was released, but it was hard to believe that the things had really happened like Trake had described them. According to the report he had gotten a hint to Ryoko's whereabouts out of reliable sources, which he didn't name in detail and after seeking her out he had followed her to a planet named Ikanta, where he succeeded in luring her into a trap, which wasn't described in detail either. Finally after a vicious battle he managed to stun her with poisonous arrows.

A task force had inspected the planet Ikanta thoroughly shortly after, but they hadn't discovered any hint of a secret hideout or something like that. Moreover, since Trake had used his own ship to investigate undercover, there were no witnesses for his story.

Jonan Rim shrugged it off and returned to his office. He couldn't tell Trake what he thought about him, but at least he could allow himself the liberty of listening in on his interrogation of Ryoko.

He relaxed into his chair and watched the Commander entering the cell block on one of his screens. However, instead of stepping up to Ryoko's cell he already stopped in front of the second one and deactivated the security field.

Rim wondered about what Trake was trying to accomplish by interrogating Nagi once more. Obviously he had already managed to arrest Ryoko with her help, what else could he possibly be after?

Curious Jonan activated the audio.

"Hello Nagi."

Like the last time he had visited, the pirate was lying on the bed, her eyes closed. Trake smiled, because he knew that like last time he was going to succeed in making her tell him what he wanted to hear.

"I've come to ask you a favor." Nagi didn't respond. "Most likely you noticed your new cell neighbor. It wasn't easy but thanks to the information you gave me I was able to arrest Ryoko."

A mumbling sound was heard, followed by Nagi's bored voice.

"Don't count on my gratitude. I've never asked you to catch her. What she deserves is not imprisonment, but a slow and painful death. And besides, I wouldn't do you a favor anyway."

Trake hadn't expected that much hostility, but it didn't matter. He was going to lead this conversation into the right direction even without Nagi's instant cooperation.

"Of course not." He made a meaningful pause. "I'm not that stupid as to expect you to help me without offering something in return."

Nagi's eyes popped open and she fixed the small man standing near the entrance. Trying to see through his poker face was nearly impossible, so she had to play the game her way.

"I don't see where you have to offer me anything." Suddenly she sat up on her bed, her narrowed eyes fixing Trake's, promising malice. "Or are you referring to your life? I would be glad to take it, but I miss the point where your death comes to my advantage."

For a brief moment fear flared up in the Commander's eyes, but he regained control instantly.

"What I'm going to offer is something more precious than my life," he said and smiled mysteriously.

"Well... then it could be anything," Nagi countered, stood up from the bed and made a step towards the GP man.

Instead of retreating though, Trake took a resolute step towards her.

"We both know what I'm talking about. Someone like you isn't meant to wither away in a place like this." He made a gesture to emphasize his statement. "You have once helped to keep the scum of the universe in their place. People haven't forgotten about that. If you are willing to return to your old ways, I'm sure that something can be arranged for you."

The fire in the pirate's eyes was about to burn the Commander to ashes. He had to be stupid after all if he thought that she was going to buy such a story. People forgot quickly and even if Trake still knew what she had once been, a single man, regardless of his ambition, couldn't possibly have enough influence to stay to such a promise. Besides, even all those years back then, when she had still been a bounty hunter, she had never worked with the GP. They weren't going to arrange something for her. Then again, there wasn't much for her to lose and after Trake actually seemed to have managed to capture Ryoko, she was interested in what he might be up to next.

"What do you want?" she asked gruffly.

Trake lowered his head and allowed himself a little smile. He knew that she hadn't fallen for his bluff, but she needed to be given a reason to give in to her curiosity. Everything was working out perfectly.

"Oh, it's nothing important, just something that I wanted to know for some time now." Then his eyes buried into the blazing orbs of the pirate again. "Tell me, how was it that a bounty hunter and the two most powerful pirates in the galaxy, each of them strong enough the stand up to the others, decided to work together? Tell me why you, Kagato and Ryoko founded your trio all those years ago. Tell me your story, Nagi."

The blue haired woman remained silent for some seconds.

"Why should I trust you?" she finally asked, already knowing the answer.

"Because you have no other choice," Trake told her with a short grin.

Nagi just stared at him in disdain. Was he really a GP officer? His manners were more like those of a pirate and a ruthless one at that. It peeked her curiosity why a man like this would be interested in her story. Asking him about it would probably be no use, so there was only one way to find out. She would tell him what had happened 19 years ago and while narrating she would watch him very carefully. There weren't any vital information included anyway.

"Well, seems you are right." Nagi returned Trake's grin, turned to make her seat appear behind her and sat down. "Hope you have some time."

* * *

The Kenryo rushed through hyperspace with a speed that average ships could only dream of. Still, the lithe ship could have gone a lot faster, if not for Nagi intentionally slowing down.

Going any faster she would risk being spotted by the pirate in front of her and that was something she did not want to happen yet. The bounty hunter was well aware that in a fight her ship would be inferior to the pirate, but that was mainly because attacking right out had never been her style. She would wait patiently for her opportunity and then strike quickly and efficiently.

That was how she had made her name as the best bounty hunter this side of the galaxy. Once she had her mind set on a target, there was no escape for it. She had never failed to obtain a bounty before, well, almost never. There was one exception, which was bothering her a lot, but that was a different story.

She had been lucky to get the tip about Kagato, because business wasn't running all too well currently. Most of the lower pirates and criminals had learned that they needed to stay unnoticed by her if they wanted to stay free and alive, so they were pulling off jobs that would keep the bounty on their head too low for her to bother with.

There were very few who kept at attempting daring raids, which, if successful, would result in a reasonable bounty on them. Those, however, were difficult to trace, or, like in the single case of Ryoko, apparently out of her league.

Spotting the infamous space pirate Kagato really was a stroke of luck for her in these hard times. The bounty on his head was only second in value to Ryoko and although Kagato was said to be extremely powerful, Nagi was dead set on finishing this job.

As her scanners indicated to her that the pirate had decelerated out of hyperspace, she was startled out of her contemplations. Quickly she returned into normal space as well and typed in a few commands that would hide her ship from immediate discovery. Then she got to checking out the space around her, in order to re-locate Kagato and determine his destination.

Actually she had expected to find herself near an inhabited system, where the pirate would try and attempt a coup of some sort, but what she saw on the screen surprised her enough to make her forget to run any scans for a second and just stare at the screen.

Directly in front of her was a graveyard. A graveyard of space ships, so huge that she could see the perimeter, but no end with her bare eye from the angle that was viewed on the screen. Hundreds of ships in all various sizes were lying there, most of them obviously having had their last trip long ago. Some were already partially dissolved and others appeared to be nothing but wreckages anymore.

At first Nagi thought that there may have been a fight, but after scanning the place and taking a closer look, she realized that that wasn't what had happened here.

Almost each of those ships was totally different from the others in shape and design. It did not seem like there had been two or more parties, who had engaged in a fire fight. Also most of the ships were too well preserved for that.

Finally Nagi realized that she was not supposed to find an explanation for what she was seeing, but to capture the pirate. A quick scan told her that they were in fact far from the next major system, so this place had to be Kagato's final destination. Next she realized that the pirate had already entered the perimeter, while she had been distracted by what she was seeing.

At her command the picture on the screen changed from an outside view of the graveyard to Kagato's ship, slowly navigating past the deceased ships. Judging from his current course he was headed for what appeared to be the center of this gloomy place.

Carefully, as to not be spotted accidentally, Nagi approached the perimeter as well, all the time keeping just enough distance between herself and the pirate to still trace all of his moves, but to be fairly certain that he would not be able to spot her stealthy ship.

As she finally entered the perimeter, much to her displeasure, Nagi found herself distracted by the gruesome sight once more. Although most of the ships were smaller ones, just like the Kenryo, there were also a few bigger ones and she could see one or two of immense proportions. Whatever put all these ships into the state they were in now was certainly nothing to mess around with.

After some minutes of navigating through the graveyard, the scanners of the Kenryo informed the bounty hunter that they had located the center of the place and Kagato's destination.

At that time Nagi had though that there could hardly be anything that could surprise her any more, but the picture that popped up on the screen the next instant proved her wrong.

She was known, respected and feared for her unshakeable calmness and composure, but what she saw on the screen almost made her gasp.

It was a ship, but not an ordinary one. The ship was of dimensions she had never seen before in her life, and she had seen a lot. Even the huge GP cruisers, which were some of the biggest ships this galaxy could offer, would be only tiny spots compared with that monstrous thing. Also it's design was totally alien to her, it not even vaguely resembled anything that she knew.

If someone had told her about what she was seeing now, she would have laughed at him and told him that the mere existence of such a thing was impossible. But it was there and the scanners told her that the ship was the very center of this twisted graveyard, so it had to be expected that there was some connection between it and this assembly of dead ships around it.

She could observe the Soto-oh coming to a halt near the giant hull of the ship. Obviously Kagato was going to board this thing for whatever reason, so in order to get him she would have to do the same.

She waited for another five minutes and then, hoping that the pirate had already left his ship, approached the location of the Soto-oh.

The bounty hunter steered her ship so that it would come to rest very close to Kagato's, because that was necessary in order to at least narrow down the area in which the pirate may have boarded the huge cruiser. She had no intention of spending the rest of her life over there searching for him.

As she ran a last scan of the ships interior, she was surprised to find that in contrast to all the other ships, it's main energy source seemed to be still functional. The main systems were down for good as much as she could tell, but at least she wouldn't have to worry about life support over there.

Something deep inside her told her that this was probably not the last surprise she was in for if she was going to follow the pirate.

As she prepared for the teleport, she noticed the outline of another ship in the corner of the screen that appeared strangely familiar to her, but she decided that she had already wasted enough time and she had to act if she didn't want to lose track of Kagato in there.

So she activated the teleportation sequence and vanished from the Kenryo's bridge a second later, paying the strange red ship she had seen no further attention.

* * *

The interior of the huge ship was even stranger to look at than it's outsides. The mere fact that there was something to look at already was unusual, because it meant that despite lifeless impression the ship made in the middle of this graveyard, it's corridors were still brightly lit.

Nagi wasn't too surprised at this, however. The life support was really functional and she had halfway assumed that the lighting would be part of it.

The source of the light was another story. As much as Nagi could tell there was none. The hallway, she was carefully walking down at the moment, was bright enough to see up to the next bend. Although, if the ship was manned and in use, it was to be expected that there would be even more light.

But for now, the sight of the alien outline of the corridor took the bounty hunter's attention away from the unsolved problem of the lighting. She had never seen, or even heard of something like this in all her life. Running through the walls, apparently at random, were countless small lines that kept changing their colors all the time. If Nagi hadn't known better, she would have sworn they were pulsating softly. That and the fact that there wasn't much of anything else that resembled technology made the whole corridor seem to be alive in a twisted fashion.

Nagi assumed that whoever built this, was using some kind of advanced bio-technology. She knew of a few races which were trying to fuse life and machine in their ships, but certainly none of them would be able to come up with something like she was witnessing here.

It was still a mystery to her what might have happened to this ship. There had been a few doors off the main corridor, which she expected to lead to cabins. Obviously once the cruiser had been manned by a large crew.

Even more obviously they were all gone. Of course with the life support it was a possibility that people were still living here and regarding the circumstances this would have been the first conclusion to make, but after boarding the ship, Nagi had known instantly that it had no crew anymore. It almost felt like the whole place was still mourning over their death long ago.

Slumbering instincts, deep inside her, were telling her that this ship was not even supposed to exist anymore. Not in this time and place at least. But she pushed the feeling aside and tried to concentrate on the matter at hand, that was finding Kagato.

It was at that moment that she heard a most unsettling sound. A frightening shriek, that was definitely not human, thundered through the corridor. It was impossible to tell where it came from, but it was a sound so horrible it almost made Nagi cover her ears.

When it finally died down, it left the bounty hunter standing in the hallway, her face covered in sweat, breathing heavily. She was disgusted at herself for losing control like this, but the sound had terrified her more than the most vicious criminals, which she had confronted before without showing the slightest hint of emotion. Suddenly she had a much better idea about what might have happened to the crew of the cruiser.

After recovering from the disturbing experience Nagi continued down the corridor, even more careful now.

She had made only a few steps as she felt a sudden movement behind her. Swiftly and almost entirely on instinct she let herself fall down to the right and rolled over her shoulder. It took her only the fraction of a second to draw the fight-staff from her weapon belt in the process and finally get on her feet again, facing the opposite direction with her staff pointed at her opponent.

She was only slightly surprised that it was a tall man with dark green hair, wearing a matching cape. He had sharp facial features and piercing eyes, accentuated by battle markings much like her own.

Although Nagi had no idea how he had managed to sneak up on her from behind, there was no doubt that this man was the infamous space pirate Kagato. Even though she had a weapon pointed at him, he just stood there, making no move to attack or to defend himself.

After some seconds had passed in this strange situation, Kagato finally spoke up.

"Well, should I be honored? It's Nagi the best among the best of bounty hunters." His face betrayed no emotion at these words, yet his voice dripped with sarcasm.

Nagi had to give him credit. He knew who she was and still did not seem to loose his confidence, so either he was stupid or extremely powerful. Judging from what was said about him the second was more likely to be true. She silently decided that she had to be careful and keep her guard up in any case.

"May I ask for the reason you followed me to this inhospitable place?" the pirate inquired.

Somehow he managed to be intimidating with his mere presence, even if he was in an unfavorable situation.

"There's a major bounty on your head and I always appreciate an easy way to earn a lot of money," Nagi answered quickly with a smirk.

She was not about to get distracted by his words and present him the opening he was certainly waiting for.

"I understand that a lot of people would want to see me dead or in a prison cell, but you are still a fool. That is because anyone who is desperate enough to face certain death just for a vast amount of money is a fool."

Nagi was taken aback. Here she was, having him cornered and he still dared to insult her like that?

"It seems to me you aren't in the position to talk," she said, trying to maintain her composure.

"I am in any position to talk. I could have finished you off right in the beginning. You didn't even notice me until I revealed myself. The only reason you are still alive is that I was curious about what made you think that you could take me on."

By now Nagi had realized what the pirate was doing. He was playing a game of power with her, by the means of words and he was quite good at it. However, the bounty hunter had her own experience in this particular kind of combat.

"If you are so confident with yourself, why don't you just show me your power."

The one who made a hasty move in battle usually had a disadvantage, because if he wasn't careful he would give his opponent the chance to parry and counterattack. That was what the dialog between the pirate and the bounty hunter was really about, to provoke the other into an attack blinded by rage, which would end the battle even before it had really started.

But it appeared that both of them were proficient in that kind of competition, so neither one was able to gain the advantage. Then again it mattered little, because they were about to be interrupted anyway.

"As I said, I..." Kagato was cut off by a low rumbling from above.

They both looked up to the ceiling, where the sudden sound seemed to have originated.

That was a mistake, because the rumbling was followed by a powerful explosion, in which a huge part of the ceiling came crushing down on them.

Despite the unexpected situation, Nagi's reaction came as quickly as ever. She made a half turn and used the force of the movement to jump backwards, out of the danger zone. As she skidded to a halt on the ground, huge fragments of an unknown, but obviously heavy enough material, connected with the floor right next to her, covering her in tiny splinters and dust. She had to protect her eyes in order to not get blinded by the assault.

All of this happened in what was not much more than a few seconds and as Nagi uncovered her eyes the smoke of the explosion was slowly clearing.

Soon the shape of a person, who was standing in what seemed to be the middle of the remains of the fallen ceiling, became visible.

At first Nagi thought it was Kagato, surprised that he actually managed to survive the spectacle without even moving, but as the sight became better she realized that she was wrong. The shape was not that of Kagato. It was not one of a person at all.

It was that of the one who had caused the explosion.

Standing in front of the bounty hunter, staring at her through two narrow slanting eyes with pupils which were not much more than mere vertical strokes, was a creature that could only be described as enormous.

It was at least 8 feet tall and it's entire body was covered in dark red scales. Two horns extended from the upper back of the creature's head. One for each side, adding to the elongated impression of it's skull. The rest of the body was a mountain of muscles, with arms ending in terrifying claws, big and certainly powerful enough to grasp and smash the skull of a normal humanoid. A long blade of smoothened scales extended from the side of each wrist along the forearms and about double their length over the elbows.

If there was something like a personification of death, it had to be this creature. The small clouds of vapor it produced from it's gruesome jaws at each heave of it's chest added to the fierce appearance of the beast. Obviously the body temperature of the creature was very high, though it looked somewhat like a reptile.

In this situation it was hard to imagine anything happening that was even more terrifying than the mere sight of this creature.

It was possible nevertheless.

The creature took a deep breath and let out it's scream, which Nagi had already heard from the distance before. However, this time she had no choice but to cover her ears. The sound was not only of incredible volume, the magnitude of terror it brought even threatened to pierce her very soul had she not shielded herself from it.

Of course she wasn't able to block the effects out completely and as it finally subsided after a small eternity the famous bounty hunter's unshakeable composure was left in shambles.

The creature choose exactly this moment to attack. It charged at Nagi with a speed that simply denied it's huge stature. With nothing more than a couple of dashes and jumps it crossed the distance between them and Nagi barely had the time to move to the side and out of the way as one of the creature's arm blades penetrated the ground where she had stood and left a deep shard.

Not even taking the time to recover, the red demon already attacked with it's other arm and this time Nagi had to block the blade with her staff.

If her weapon hadn't been designed strong enough to hold off even energy blades and attacks, it's metal would have given away under the demon's razor instantly. Even so, the force of the blow was still enough to push the bounty hunter to the ground and make her arm go numb.

But even before she hit the ground, Nagi managed to change her weapon into her left and used it to fire an energy blast at her inhuman opponent.

The energy discharge, which would have been enough to fry an average person to ashes, hit the demon head on into the side...

... and dissipated completely upon contact with the red scales that covered it's body. The creature did not as much as even notice the attack. It rose to it's full height over the fallen warrior and one could almost see the equivalent of an evil grin spreading around it's jaws as it prepared for the killing blow.

'What an pathetic end for the best bounty hunter in the galaxy,' Nagi thought, forced into an empty smile by the irony.

A razor sharp blade came down, but it never found it's target as the creature was hit by another force blast, this time strong enough to tear it away from it's prey and make it skid over the ground some distance, before it was able to recover it's footing.

"It's not over yet. Let's see how you fare against me now," Kagato said as he stepped out from behind a huge chunk of the corridor's former ceiling.

The red demon gave an angry growl and charged at the pirate. Kagato did the same.

Just before he clashed with the creature, the pirate activated his black energy blade. As he did this his hands moved so fast, it almost seemed as if the blade merely appeared in his hand and sprang to life. Not a second passed before the battle between the two unalike opponents commenced.

Kagato converted the force of his approach into a powerful upwards swipe, aimed for the creatures mid-section. The demon, however, demonstrated that it actually possessed as much speed as strength by blocking the attack with it's left arm blade.

With not much more than mild surprise Kagato noted that his sword wasn't able to cut through the creatures natural weapons. Certainly it's body armor would provide a similar protection, so he would have to strike with great force if he wanted to harm his opponent.

There was only one problem. Immediately after the demon had blocked his initial attack it had countered with it's right blade and from there the pirate was forced into the defensive.

Quickly he was covered in a rain of attacks and he had to use all the Jurai power available to him in order to hold himself against the demon. It's power was tremendous as well as it's speed and the lack of skill was made up by the fact that it was able to use two weapons at once, while still having it's claws free. He had to be extra careful as to not accidentally move into the reach of the gruesome claws in the heat of battle. Such a mistake would mean certain death.

But from the way the battle was going, Kagato was coming to the conclusion that death might be in store for him anyway. He realized that he had made the mistake of underestimating his opponent. A mistake which usually determined the outcome of a battle even before it really started. With his thoughtless frontal approach he had maneuvered himself into a bleak situation, he wouldn't be able to get out of easily.

He slowly kept retreating as the flurry of attacks continued without pause, all the time being careful as to not trip over one of the various pieces of debris that covered the ground.

By using both of it's blades alternatively, the creature never presented him a chance to effectively counterattack. Using his Jurai power to push the creature off was out of the question as well, because he had to use every ounce of strength to keep the demon from slicing his blade and body into pieces.

Just as he prepared to unleash all his remaining power in a last offensive that would most certainly cost him his life, there was a snapping sound and the demon hesitated with it's next attack.

As it started hissing and diverted it's attention from him, Kagato realized that it didn't exactly hesitate, but was effectively prevented from striking. The glowing end of an energy whip was wrapped around it's right wrist, keeping it in place and the person who kept the creature's attention right now was no other than Nagi the bounty hunter. She was obviously having a very hard time, trying to keep the demons power in check.

Of course this little distraction was all Kagato needed. He sacrificed another precious second in order to concentrate his power and his sword became bathed in a strange aura that was somehow glowing and dark at the same time. Then, with a piercing shout, he swung his sword straight up, slicing it right through the scales at the creature's neck, neatly severing it's head from the torso.

A fountain of an unpleasant dark liquid sprang from the mortal cut and for a moment it seemed like the creature's body tried to defy the rules of life and death, because it remained standing with claws twitching uncontrollably. But as the head hit the ground after a split second, the monstrous body of the creature collapsed as if struck by lightning, soaking Kagato in dark blood in the process.

After giving the creature one last disgusted look, the pirate returned his attention to the bounty hunter, who had withdrawn her weapon, but was still holding it in her right, ready to strike.

For what seemed like a very long time, they just kept staring at each other, their eyes filled with loathing and mistrust, but also showing a hint of respect after the fierce battle.

The appearance of the demon had forced them both to show their true power and even though it had been obvious that Nagi didn't last too long against her opponent, Kagato had seen enough to know that a fight with the bounty hunter would not serve his purpose right now. He still needed to recover his powers from his own battle and through his link with the Soto-oh he could feel the presence of a lot more of those creatures on board the ship. It was then that a warped idea came to him.

"So you still want to fight me?" he asked, as if he not really cared.

"It depends. Do you have a better suggestion?" came the woman's response.

Kagato's estimation had been right. Nagi had observed him in battle as well and she had witnessed the amount of power he held. Much like she had expected, taking on the pirate would be a great risk, so she was willing to talk some more first.

"Actually, I have." Kagato extinguished his sword at these words, knowing that he wouldn't really need it to defend himself in case Nagi was foolish enough to try and attack him. "This ship..." He made a gesture to their surroundings. "... is in fact the biggest treasure chest you have ever seen. It holds the potential for much more power and wealth than you will ever get out of any bounty." He stopped, to take in Nagi's reaction to his words.

The bounty hunter did not so much as to slightly raise an eyebrow at the revelation, but she finally nodded her head.

"Go on."

"I learned about the legend of this ship not too long ago. It says that far in the depths of space between the inhabited systems there lies a stranded ship. Any space-born craft that is known nowadays is supposed to shrink to the size of an insect compared with this cruiser. But the legend says that the size of the ship still does not even hint at the true value that lies inside. Ancient technologies, long forgotten, but more advanced than anything we know, are to be found within. Countless adventurers, fortune hunters and pirates have set out to learn if the legend was true, but most of them never returned and those who came back had changed into mere shadows of their former selves." At this point he inserted a well measured pause, giving Nagi the opportunity to take in everything he had said.

"Well, if there are more of those creatures, it's obvious what happened to those who boarded the ship. At least this explains the graveyard of ships out there," the bounty hunter commented after a while.

She had decided that Kagato was most likely telling the truth, because otherwise it would be no use to him to come up with such a crazy story. She made a gesture for him to continue.

"Anyway, I heard that with control over this cruiser and it's technologies would come almost unlimited power. After I knew what I was searching for it was fairly easy to locate the position of this place, so I decided to see for myself if the legend was true and as you may have realized it wasn't just a legend after all."

Nagi's eyes narrowed as the pirate's story was finally reaching the interesting part.

"And exactly why are you telling me all this?" she asked.

She had a pretty good idea of what he was getting at, but she was going to stay careful and let Kagato do the talking, as to not make a mistake or fall into a trap of his.

"If most of the legend is true, and we can safely assume that by now, even only part of the treasure of this ship is going to be worth a tenfold more than the bounty on my head," he explained, his voice not betraying a hint of emotion.

"So you suggest sharing the loot?"

Although she had seen it coming, Nagi was still a little surprised, that a powerful pirate like Kagato would offer such a thing. She couldn't help but suspect something being amiss with his sudden generosity.

"I'm not of the kind of man who let their pride blind them into fools. There are a lot more of those creatures out there and they are extremely powerful. In fact I shouldn't have underestimated their power in the first place. A mistake that almost cost me my life and one that I'm not going to make again. Together we would have a much better chance at locating the command center of the ship," the pirate explained his trail of thought as he read Nagi's suspicion on her face.

"Now tell me one reason why I should trust you," the bounty hunter asked of Kagato, with her weapon still in hand.

"I'm not asking you to trust me. I will keep my word, so if we acquire something valuable, we are going to share it fairly, the ratio depends on how much and if there is anything of value at all. However, this doesn't mean that we are partners for the time, in fact I'm going to turn on you as soon as I see fit, but right now it seems more appealing to do this together. You can trust me exactly as long as it stays that way."

Nagi didn't like the arrogant manner of the pirate, but at least he was honest. In addition, this just might be the chance of a solution for her lack of jobs and cash. It was risky, but obviously worth a try.

"All right. You lead the way," Nagi said as she finally holstered her weapon.

The trace of a smile found it's way onto Kagato's face, as he gave Nagi a curt bow and walked past her in the direction of where the command center was supposed to be.

* * *

For some time the newly founded couple of adventurers just walked down the ship's lengthy corridors, with Kagato leading the way. All the time neither of them failed to keep a close eye on the other, in case one of them decided to cancel their temporary alliance.

However, after Kagato had passed at least three intersections without even slowing his step, Nagi realized that she was obviously lacking some information, which was a state that needed to be cancelled in order for her to continue cooperating with the pirate.

"Now wait just a moment."

Nagi stopped in her walk, causing the pirate to do the same, if he did not want to be blind to her movements.

"Exactly how do you know that we are heading in the right direction?" the bounty hunter asked in a sharp voice, making clear that she did expect a good explanation.

Kagato calmly turned around to face her. He had expected the question for some time now, so he was able to present the answer quickly and without revealing any critical information.

"Since this is really simple, I might as well tell you. Over short distances my mind remains liked with my ship, granting me access to all the major systems, scanners included. It's much like the Soto-oh projecting a map directly into my mind. That's also how I knew about the creatures roaming the ship. Through Soto-oh I can feel the presence of plenty of powerful energy signatures. Basically I know they are out there and they are strong, but I'm too far from my ship to get any exact locations."

It wasn't easy for Nagi to completely hide her surprise at what she just heard and especially at what the pirate's words implied. There were only few space-capable races out there, who were spiritually bonded with their ships. In fact the only one which Kagato bore any resemblance to was the most powerful of them.

Of course it was kind of a common assumption that the dreaded space pirate Kagato was a Juraian. So, although it didn't happen too often that one of the tree people turned into a criminal, the confirmation of this fact wasn't what was giving Nagi trouble. What really surprised her was that from the way Kagato was referring to it, the Soto-oh really was a tree-ship and the pirate was mind-linked to it, what in turn implied that he was of royalty, because only Juraian royals were able to truly bond with their trees.

As she followed her line of thought, Kagato studied the bounty hunter carefully. He had to admit that she was hiding her surprise well, but of course he knew the conclusions to which his words would lead her. After all, that was why he had chosen to tell her about the link.

After a few seconds, without Nagi showing any reaction but to study him intently, as if to see if what he said was true, Kagato decided that they had wasted enough time and resumed his walk, this time intentionally not paying any attention to the opening he left for Nagi.

At seeing the pirate continuing down the corridor, the blue haired woman immediately snapped out of her contemplations and closed up to him.

"I suppose you are not going to tell me what caused you to turn to piracy," she asked, just a little bit curious at the unusual idea of a Juraian royal turning into a pirate.

"About this, I'm never going to tell anybody," Kagato stated matter of factly.

Nagi was just about to try and get some more information, as they turned around another corner. The sight that awaited them made them both flinch and they had their weapons ready faster than the blink of an eye.

Only a couple of feet in front of them was standing one of the red demons.

Time froze as the two warriors stood face to face with the beast, both ready to defend themselves, but neither daring to make the first move. Seconds passed, which felt like eternities to the two combatants.

Finally, as the creature just kept standing there, obviously not even acknowledging their presence, Kagato realized that something was fishy. He gave the demon a closer look and, at scanning it's eyes, immediately discovered the reason for it's petrifacation.

The eyes of the creature didn't hold their aggressive glow anymore. Instead they were broken. The demon was dead.

As if to confirm Kagato's conclusion, it's body collapsed to the ground all of a sudden, revealing a small scorched wound in it's back.

However, neither Kagato nor Nagi paid much attention to the corpse of the beast. Instead their stares were directed at the person who they now saw standing above it.

At the sight of the young woman, with the red energy sword, the spiky cyan mane and a grin on her face, which was just enough to reveal two of her sharp predatory fangs, even Kagato's normally unshakeable expression betrayed utter surprise.

Nagi, who was known to quickly adjust to new situations, got over her initial surprise first.

"You!" she hissed, raising her weapon. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Well, what does it look like? I'm doing some sightseeing together with a little workout of course," Ryoko replied in a sarcastic tone, pointing at the creature's corpse.

Nagi's face contorted in anger for a moment, but then she gave an empty smile.

"Soon you won't be fooling around anymore. This time you are not going to escape me."

"Yeah right, I'm not going to escape. Beating you up badly is going to be so much more fun," the cyan haired pirate retorted smugly.

She was still in the rush of combat after her fight with the demon and quickly got excited at the prospect of more to come.

"That's enough!" the bounty hunter snarled as she reached for her battle staff with her left.

Just as they were about to go at it though, Kagato stepped in. "I don't mean to interrupt, ladies, but this might not be the right time and place to settle old scores," he stated calmly. There was no trace of his surprise at the other pirate's presence anymore.

"Do you know a better place?" Ryoko asked with her energy sword still in hand.

"No, but I have an idea that will be more profitable to all of us. I suppose you are after the treasure of this place as well, Ryoko?"

"What if I was?" she asked in return, going from playful to dead serious almost instantly.

Kagato hesitated for the fraction of a second. What he was going to suggest was unthinkable, even for him. But it was the most reasonable course of action right then.

"Be it coincidence or not, we are all in the same place right now. Three of the most powerful warriors of the galaxy and where each of us would have a good chance at fulfilling his ambition alone, together nobody could stop us from conquering this ship in a heartbeat."

As Kagato finished his speech, Ryoko suddenly broke into a huge grin.

"Now I get it. That's why the two of you are hanging on each other like some love birds. You signed a contract or something. Come on, tell me who confessed first," she said with a conspiratorial wink.

Nagi, who realized that she had indeed ended up standing very close to Kagato, scrambled away from the pirate as if he was contaminated, causing Ryoko to crack up in laughter.

Meanwhile Kagato just remained standing there, waiting for Ryoko to calm down and for Nagi to swallow her anger. He was satisfied to see that the bounty hunter by now was obviously thinking along similar lines like his, because otherwise she would have already tried to cut Ryoko's throat.

It took some time, but finally Ryoko recovered to the point of coherent speech.

"And I always thought you two were real party poopers. See how wrong I was," she commented, still giggling.

"So what do you think?" Kagato asked cautiously.

"Are there any conditions or rules?"

"No, just that we are going to share the loot should we be successful."

"Okay, count me in."

Nagi had decided to remain silent for the time. She still considered Ryoko her worst rival and had serious trouble just to suppress the urge to try and attack her right out.

However, the rational part of her mind told her that it would do her better to just wait and see where things developed. Even after the previous battle Kagato was still kind of a blind card to her, but she had fought against Ryoko in the past often enough to know her strength and that it was nothing she wanted to mess around with, especially not in her current situation. If this pact was going to pay, she would just have to swallow it.

"Very well, now that that's settled, may I ask exactly where you were headed before you encountered our unfortunate friend here?" Kagato asked with a gesture to the fallen demon.

"The engine room, of course. That's where all the ancient technology lies," Ryoko answered, not understanding as to what he was getting at.

"Hmm... interesting. So you don't think that it still might be possible to gain control over the cruiser from the control center," the noble pirate stated more to himself.

"Huh," was Ryoko's only reaction.

"You see, we were headed for the control center, but in fact this is a little gamble of mine. If there is no power available anymore it might be a waste of time..."

"Hey, you didn't tell me about this," Nagi suddenly cut in.

"That's because there was no need to tell you."

Nagi was about to sound her protest once more, but she was silenced by a gesture from Kagato.

"However, now that there are three of us it might be a good idea to split up. Since it seems you are able to hold yourself against those creatures, I suggest that you head on for the engine room, while we try to reach the command center," he explained as he looked at Ryoko expectantly.

"Fine with me," she confirmed.

Kagato turned towards Nagi, who only gave a curt nod. She was glad to not have to put up with Ryoko for long after all.

"We can use these to stay in contact." Kagato produced three small circular devices. "If you activate them they will adjust to my ship's mental frequency and use it's network to transmit mental messages to the others."

Both Ryoko and Nagi took one of the communicators, dumbfounded as to why the pirate was carrying around equipment like this.

After receiving the communicator, Ryoko returned her attention to her fellow pirate and the bounty hunter. "Alright, see ya," she said and phased away.

"Do you think you can trust her?" Nagi asked the pirate, whose gaze was still fixed on the place where Ryoko had stood a moment ago.

"No, but I don't think I can trust you either," he answered.

"You have a point there."

And with that, they resumed their way to the control center.

* * *

Confusion.

He didn't know the concepts of defeat and pain. He never experienced them before. For thousands of years he had followed through the same routine and through all this time he had never felt such disturbing sensations. It had always been a matter of locating new prey and instantly killing it. He didn't knew that there was death for him as well. However, the new prey out there had killed him two times already.

Pain.

He didn't know that such a thing existed, but both times his defeat had caused him agony. Even more so, because the feeling was alien to him.

Incomprehension.

It wasn't his purpose to be killed or to feel pain. He was supposed to kill and to inflict pain. No prey was supposed to be able to stand up to him.

Realization.

He had failed his purpose. There was prey which was stronger than what he was used to, strong enough to inflict death on him, but he was immortal. He was supreme and he needed to fulfill his purpose.

Determination.

He was going to prove his supremacy. Through his network he could detect them easily. He was going to intercept them again and this time they were going to be the ones to be killed. Just like it was supposed to be.

* * *

Ryoko was totally lost.

She hadn't expected the ship to be so much of a maze and since the reactor room was the most vital part of any craft, it wasn't supposed to be difficult to locate at all. But obviously these rules had been unknown to those who constructed the ship in ancient times, because Ryoko had no clue as to where she was, leave alone her destination.

She had been lost even before she had met Nagi and Kagato, but there was no way she was going to ask one of them for locations. For her it was most important to never depend on anybody, least of all on people who she knew as some of her most dangerous rivals. Actually the only reason she had agreed on Kagato's offer, was that she was about to try something new for a change anyway.

It wasn't the promise of money the cruiser held that she was after, so she didn't really mind sharing. Her name was well known amongst the doubtful characters throughout the galaxy, so she never encountered a shortage of jobs or money.

No, for Ryoko the fame was more important. Being the first one to ever succeed in stealing treasure from the cruiser of ancient legend was definitely going to improve her image a lot. In addition she also saw it as a personal challenge. Once an alliance with Nagi and Kagato turned out to be a bother to her ambition, she could always get rid of them somehow, but for now it was worth a try.

However, the problem of her being lost remained unsolved. Contacting Kagato though this communicator of his was out of the question. Then there was also the possibility to return to the Souja and run another scan, narrowing down the target area even more, but this way she would lose even more time and she didn't like the thought of the other two arriving at their destination first.

As the pirate stood in the middle of another intersection like this, contemplating on how to get out of her misery without loosing her face, she didn't register on the faint sounds she was hearing at first. Only as they draw nearer, she snapped out of her thoughts and concentrated on the source of the disturbance. Her superior senses quickly identified it as the sounds of heavy footfalls. One or more of the red demons were coming her way.

As much as she would have enjoyed it, she couldn't effort a fight against them now. It would cause her to lose even more time. So she decided for the most obvious solution for both her problems and just phased through the floor.

Upon growing substantial again, Ryoko had somehow expected to find herself in another corridor, but her new surroundings proved this to be a false assumption.

She was in a room of average size, which once had probably been a quite comfortable place. The centuries that had passed it without maintenance, however, were clearly showing. A thick layer of dust covered the entire chamber and various pieces of furniture were in the process of decaying or, were they of less durable materials, had already turned to dust.

Generally the room was a mess, even more so than Ryoko's on board the Souja. But somehow the pirate had her doubts that this mess was the result of a crewman's lacking ability to tidy up his room.

Ryoko slowly lowered herself to the ground and once her feet made contact, started to thoroughly examine the half decayed furniture. Although unlikely, maybe she was going to find something of value, like a chart of the ship's interior.

She rummaged through what was left of the room for a couple of minutes, leaving it in a state that somehow managed to look even worse than before, but she only found rubbish like rank insignias, pictures that had dissolved beyond the point of recognition and even a miniature version of the ship, made of the same strange metal as the walls.

Judging from all the various insignias, the occupant of the room must have been a very high ranking officer, but such bits of information mattered little to Ryoko at the moment.

"Why am I wasting my time with this crap?" she thought out aloud as she kicked what had once been some kind of table.

Her foot met almost no resistance and what had remained of the structure crumbled down under her assault instantly.

Ryoko was just about to head for the door as a strange object was sent rolling out of the pile of debris she had just created. She eyed the device carefully for a moment and then picked it up. It was shaped as a sphere, but that didn't gave Ryoko any idea of what it's purpose might have been. She let her fingers glide over the surprisingly smooth material of the small sphere, wondering if this was a piece of ancient technology or just more of the junk she had found before.

Suddenly, without any apparent reason, the metal of the globe started to warm up in her hands considerably. She almost dropped it in surprise, but her curiosity got the better of her and she kept her hold on the globe until it was pleasantly warm to the touch. Then a voice erupted from the sphere. Again Ryoko almost dropped the device at the sudden sound of the deep male voice, which spoke in a very mechanical tone.

Of course Ryoko didn't understand the words that were spoken to her, because the voice spoke in an ancient language that was long forgotten, but much to her confusion her mind seemed to grasp the overall meaning of those words.

"Captain's personal log. Replay mode activated. Replaying programmed records..."

An holographic image of a man clad in a very official uniform sprang to life above the sphere, directly in front of the awed Ryoko's head. The man spoke up in a calm voice.

"In a week we will finally finish our archeological research mission. I'm glad that it went as smooth as possible. We got a lot of great results and the crew seems to have had a great time these past six months as well. I even tried to get allowance from the administration to prolong our research assignment, but they would only tell me to return to headquarters as fast as possible once we are finished. It is rather unusual for the administration to reject an extension request, but a few days ago I heard a rumor that might explain their decision. Recently the Yankani was caught in a surprise assault by the Zenarians and seriously damaged. So with the number one scientific vessel down, we are next in line. That's where the rumor comes in. It says that there is going to be a top secret project, which was supposed to be conducted on board the Yankani. If this is true, with the current situation we are probably going to get the assignment. I have to admit that I'm curious as to what this is about..."

The recording was cut off abruptly at this point and as the image of the captain faded, Ryoko started to fear that the device might have been damaged somehow, but before she was able to follow the thought any further, the image reappeared, but this time the captain was wearing more casual clothes and he had a different message.

"Today we returned to headquarters and it seems like the rumor was true. I was led to a secret meeting as soon as I left the ship. Once there, I was informed that we are leaving again immediately after the preparations are finished. I tried to find out more about the assignment, but I was told that it was classified top secret and that some specialists would board the ship and take care of everything. They made it clear that the specialists were going to have absolute authority in regards of the project. It seems like I am only supposed to command the ship during the operation and there is no need for me to know about the specifics. I don't like the idea of taking orders from some guys who consider themselves some kind of secret agents, but this mission is obviously very important, so there is not much I can do about it..."

Again the message was cut off and as the image disappeared and reappeared again shortly after, Ryoko realized that this was a programmed replay, which only showed information that was deemed relevant by the one who programmed it. Curious as to where this was going she listened to what the captain had to say next.

"We have already been out for two weeks now and I still don't have the slightest idea of what is going on in the new lab that was established particularly for the purpose of this mission. The majority of the crew is somewhat upset about how they are kept in the dark like this and I can't blame them for it..."

There was probably more to this entry, but it wasn't replayed any further.

As the captain reappeared, Ryoko noticed that he had a slightly agitated look on his face.

"I have come to realize that there are things going on aboard my ship which I do not approve of at all. Word has leaked out that they are working on a secret and extremely dangerous biological weapon down there and from the way things look I'm tempted to believe the story. If it turns out to be true, I might be forced into action, because with experiments of such kind the safety of the entire crew might be at risk. Administrative approval or not, I'm not going to let them endanger the crew."

This time he turned his back to the recording device before he faded away. This was all there was to this entry.

At the beginning of the next entry, his facial expression had changed from one of worry to one of intense anger and he didn't do much to hide his fury as he spoke up again.

"Things are getting more and more out of hand. Yesterday a crew member was seriously wounded. The unfortunate guy was probably over-curious and tried to sneak into the new research lab. Those so called specialists down there just shot him down. He is currently recovering in the health bay. Of course I tried to kick those guys off my ship immediately, but upon trying I was silenced by a call from the topmost position. They even went as far as to outright threaten me. Something really bad is going on here and my hands are tied about it. At this rate we might have a mutiny soon."

At this point Ryoko started to suspect that she was witnessing the downfall of this powerful ship first hand.

She made sure that she had a good hold on the globe in order to not accidentally interrupt the recording and continued to watch with great interest as the captain appeared for his next entry.

"My worst fears have come true. They really have been working on a biological weapon and only a few hours ago they lost control over it. I was finally informed that they created an artificial being which was supposed to be the perfect killing machine, invincible and lethal at the same time. It would have been the ultimate weapon in our war against the Zenarians, they told me. Most unfortunately it went berserk and escaped. Although they kept assuring me that they were trying their best to get the situation under control and that there is no need to worry, I'm feeling more uneasy than ever. I know I can't trust those guys one bit and we already lost communication with various parts of the ship. I sent investigation parties, but we lost contact with them as well. I should have objected to the mission right away, now I have to face the consequences of my mistake."

His words made sense to the pirate. So these creatures were in fact created for war by the ancient civilization, but he had mentioned only the creation of one, but it seemed like countless of the creatures were roaming the ship now. But as the captain showed up again, his face full anger once more, Ryoko halted her contemplations for the time and listened on.

"Those damned bastards finally showed their true face. As they realized that the situation had gone totally out of hand, they efficiently sabotaged all means of transportation, including the escape pods and killed themselves with poison afterwards. I understand now that this was a suicide mission right from the beginning, we were all supposed to die anyway. Had the experiment been a success they would have killed us, because it needed to remain a secret. Now they simply leave us to die by the hand of their devilish creation. Of course I'm not going to give up without a fight, but we seem to be unable to reach some of the vital systems, so we can't repair the damage. The situation is looking bleak for us."

Ryoko felt pity for the captain and the crew of his ship. They had been tricked by their own people and what was worse their death had been totally in vain. The pirate found herself sharing the captain's disgust at the ways of the leaders of his own nation.

The next time he appeared, the captain's uniform was cut and ripped in various places, revealing various only recently healed and partially still bleeding cuts all over his body. As he spoke, his voice was that of a hunted and his eyes revealed the fear that was burned into his heart.

"This might be the last time I'm able to make an entry here. The creature has the ability to reproduce itself, or at least create less powerful, but still deadly and nightmarish spawn. I have seen one of them as it brutally slaughtered six of my crewman and it was only with great effort that I managed to escape alive. By now my estimation is that there is only one third of the crew left and from the way things are going we will be entirely wiped out within the next two days. As hard as I am trying to prevent it, my men are losing their fighting spirit and accepting their fate of unavoidable death. The worst of it is that I know they are right, nobody aboard this ship is going to make it through this alive."

This was the explanation Ryoko had waited for. Now everything made sense. However, she hadn't missed the deeper meaning of the captains words. The creature she had faced and all the others throughout the ship were nothing but mere offspring from the original demon, who was way more powerful and dangerous than his pawns.

The captain appeared one more time and Ryoko was shocked at his looks. His uniform was reduced to nothing but rags and his body and face were covered with scars, wounds and bruises. There were shadows under his eyes and he also seemed to have lost quite a bit of weight. His voice was scratchy and it would have been hard to understand had Ryoko not gotten the meaning of his words directly into her mind.

"I can't know for sure, but I think I'm the last one alive and this is my final recording with my last request to you whoever is viewing this. I managed to hide from the demons for about a week now and I tried several times to reach the reactor core, in order to destroy the ship, but I wasn't able to make it through. I'm cut off from all sources of food. I feel that I'm growing weaker by the time. I know that I'm going to die soon. If not by the hands of the demons out there, it will be of starvation. I can't let this happen, I need to destroy the ship, so I'm going to make one final attempt for the reactor core, which will most likely be in vain. Who ever reads this, I beg you, destroy this ship. I studied those creatures and I understand now that it was a grave mistake to create these demons. They can't be controlled, they are the end of all life, they kill everything but them. Even if you were somehow able to completely defeat them, the knowledge of the experiment will live on with the ship and the same mi take will be made again. You won't be able to stop them a second time and once they are set free, they will spread over the galaxy like a disease, leaving nothing alive. No, this ship needs to be destroyed at all costs. The knowledge contained within was never meant for the hands of our or any other species. I beseech you, destroy the ship, or everything will be lost..." He looked to the side, fear etched across his face. "Damn, I heard something. I need to hurry..." With that he left the area of the recording in a rush.

Ryoko remained holding the spherical device even long after the mechanical voice had announced the end of the programmed replay.

She could still hear the captain's last words in her mind. This wasn't all about pirating and fame anymore. From what he had said this ship represented a threat to behold.

For a minute she kept staring absently at the nothingness in the middle of the room, still keeping her hold on the cooling globe in her hands.

Then she just shrugged and laughed as if someone had just said something really stupid.

"Ha Ha... See if I care."

She turned and left the room by phasing through the door, still happily giggling to herself.

The globe never left her hand.

* * *

Strange sounds resonated through a dark bottomless shaft near the periphery of the cruiser. They resembled the sounds of someone climbing the rungs which were the only means of transportation the about twelve feet wide shaft had left to offer. It had been very long since it was used this way the last time.

Soon the darkness revealed two figures, rising up the ladder at a constant pace. The second one of them, a woman, was silently cursing to herself.

'I should have just taken his head,' Nagi thought grimly as she continued climbing behind Kagato. They were stuck in this tube for at least half an hour by now and there was still no end in sight.

As Kagato had told her that they needed to climb up this shaft a few levels, in order to reach the command center, she hadn't expected it to become such an ordeal.

She almost considered it a possibility that the pirate was trying to get rid of her by tiring her out until she simply lost her grip and vanished into the darkness below. But of course there would have been easier ways for him to accomplish this.

Still, Nagi couldn't understand why he had boarded the ship countless levels below his destination. Obviously the proud pirate wasn't as faultless as he was trying to appear.

"Hey Kagato, when do you think we get out of this cursed shaft?" she questioned the pirate above her impatiently.

"Fifteen more levels," he answered calmly.

"WHAT!"

Her exclamation caused a very unpleasant echo throughout the shaft, which lasted a few seconds until it finally died down.

Nagi was just about to tell Kagato that he was better not trying to joke around with her as a low scraping noise from behind caught her attention. She stopped in her ascent for a moment, to take a look at the source of the sound. It was a closed lift door, that happened to be directly opposite her position on the wall of the shaft. Something was causing the noise from behind the door and considering the circumstances this was probably not good at all. Nagi quickened her pace on the ladder, in order to get past the door.

"Kagato, might be a good idea to hurry..."

She was cut short as two red blades hammered through the door and it was ripped away and shredded like a sheet of paper. What followed was an agonizing cry and Nagi was able to turn around on the ladder completely just in time to see the demon leap towards her.

"Crap," she mumbled, halfway expecting the creature to just cut her in half with it's blades, while she was unable to defend herself.

Much to her surprise the demon chose a less suicidal way of attack. His two razor blades embedded themselves deeply into the wall of the shaft to either side of the bounty hunter, providing him with some temporary stability. Nagi's face was now only inches from the gruesome jaws of the demon and he didn't waste any time to try and put them to use.

She had to twist her head fiercely, almost losing her grip on the rung she was holding on to, in order to avoid having part of it removed.

All the time her mind raced. She could keep this up no longer than a few seconds. If she wanted to survive she needed to do something.

As she kept avoiding the jaws of the demon one of her hands swiftly left the rung behind her and reached for her fighting staff. The demon was too engrossed in his vicious attempts at her throat to even notice.

Despite the situation, Nagi was still aware that her opponent was immune to energy blasts. But she also knew that this didn't apply for the walls.

As she twisted to the side once more, she used the space of the movement to bring her weapon around and fire a blast precisely at the point where the creature's razor penetrated the wall.

With a shriek of surprise and fury the demon lost his balance as his left blade was cut loose. Nagi used the opportunity to fire another blast at the wall to her left, breaking free his other blade as well.

The demon's shrieks intensified as his hold slipped completely and he fell down into the darkness. However, he still had enough time to grab hold of Nagi's foot with one of his claws in passing. With a curse the bounty hunter lost her hold as well and was torn into the darkness by the creature.

Thinking quickly, she reached for her whip with her free hand and activated it. As she moved her hand with a jerk the flexible line of energy lashed out and wrapped around one of the rungs in the wall.

Unfortunately, the demon still had his hold on Nagi's foot, almost ripping her apart as the whip became taut. A searing pain exploded in her leg and shoulder, but she didn't give up her hold on the whip, knowing that it would mean certain death. But as she was thrown against the wall of the shaft forcefully, her mind started to cloud over from pain and her fingers started to slip nevertheless. One more second and she was going to fall.

Luckily it took less than a second for an energy blast to soar past her, missing her only by the span of a finger, and to explode against the creature, eliciting another horrible cry. Although the blast didn't do any damage, the force of it was enough to make the demon lose his grip on Nagi's foot. His screams echoed through the shaft as he disappeared into the darkness below.

Summoning all of the strength that was left to her, Nagi managed to take a hold of one of the rungs and for a moment she just kept hanging there, trying to clear her mind from the pain.

It took her a few seconds until she had recovered to the point of clear thinking and another minute until she was able to slowly start climbing up the ladder again.

After what seemed like an eternity to her, but was in fact only a couple of minutes, she reached the point where she had fallen. Kagato was patiently waiting above.

"You missed," Nagi rasped.

"Maybe," he answered.

* * *

Finding the reactor core from the Captain's quarters had been a rather easy affair. That was because someone, presumably the Captain himself, had carved old fashioned markings in the walls all the way at each intersection. Now Ryoko was standing in front of a door, the wall to it's left burned by some kind of energy weapon.

So he had actually made it all the way to his destination. But the ship was still intact, even after all this time, indicating that he had failed. Something must have stopped him just short of his objective.

Bracing herself, Ryoko phased through the door, not even bothering to pay a thought to it's failed proximity sensors.

Emerging on the other side, the first thing she observed was, that as she had expected for a ship of this size, the room was huge. Next she spotted the reactor core in the center of the room, pulsating fiercely with yellow light as on the day of the cruiser's launching. But the core wasn't the only sight to behold. More impressive, or better more terrifying, was the offspring of hell that was placed between Ryoko and the yellow orb.

It didn't take the pirate more than a second to realize exactly who she was facing here. Other than the ones she had previously encountered, this demon was covered in black scales from head to toe, accentuating the deadly red glow in his small pupils. The size of the waking nightmare was almost double that of the smaller ones. It was enormous, probably about three times as high as Ryoko herself. Otherwise it resembled the already familiar shapes. Narrow slanting eyes in a flat, horned skull, pitch black blades extending from the wrists and as an addition the smaller demons were missing, a long and powerful tail adorned with spikes.

There was no doubt in Ryoko's mind that the beast she was facing was the original creation of those 'specialists' back then. It was sheer destruction pressed into an earthly body.

As his gaze met Ryoko's they locked and for the fracture of a second the pirate could almost feel his negative emotions. The anger, the hatred, the will to eliminate all living things. The Captain had spoken the truth, this creature was a threat to all civilization. And for the first time in decades Ryoko knew that she was about to do battle with an equal, perhaps even superior opponent.

A bestial snarl erupted from the demons jaws and despite the situation Ryoko cracked a sinister smile. "Alright, bring it on!" she shouted.

And the demon did as he was told, but not in the way Ryoko had expected. He spread his claws in front of him and took a deep breath, almost as if he was trying to suck her in. Then a wall of flame shot out of his mouth directly at the pirate.

"Oh shit..." Ryoko exclaimed as she barely had enough time to throw her shield up full force before the flames engulfed her completely.

The dragon continued to breathe out his blazing odem until he was absolutely sure that nothing but burning ashes would be left of his opponent. Then an energy blast exploded into his face, startling him. And with a vicious battle cry Ryoko emerged from the slowly clearing smoke. Her red energy sword in hand she dashed through the air, charging at the nightmarish creature.

However, the demon got over his surprise quickly and brought one of his own blades up to meet Ryoko's in an almost casual movement. As the blades met with thunderous force, a true storm of crackling red energy exploded outwards from the two combatants and the pirate was stopped dead in her tracks. The creature simply ignored the spectacle caused by the undeterred power of Ryoko's attack. Instead it brought to bear it's other blade, intending to cut her in half.

Through her struggle against the dragon's unwavering stance, Ryoko almost missed out on the danger and as she finally noticed, she barely managed to form another energy blade in her left, blocking the demon's swipe.

Locked in a power contest like this, with each of her swords meeting a scaled black blade, Ryoko realized that the strength of the demon was tremendous. It exceeded hers significantly. Quickly withdrawing from her opponent, she decided that she needed to avoid a direct confrontation.

Without hesitation the dragon pressed his attack, but Ryoko vanished in front of his blade at the last instant. It didn't do her any good though, as the creature's tail came around at her right after she reappeared behind it's back. She managed to dodge to the side before the deadly spikes could impale themselves into her body.

The demon, however, used the distraction by spinning around with a swiftness that simply defied his stature. Taking her totally by surprise, his claw shot out like lightning and grabbed hold of one of Ryoko's blades.

Much to the pirate's discomfort the creature didn't seem to be disturbed by the sensation at all. Even worse, she was losing her focus on the sword.

Not about to give in to the creature just yet, she struck it's exposed arm with her other blade. It was like trying to cut solid steel with a spoon. Ryoko's eyes widened as her sword simply bounced off the dark scales without leaving as much as a scratch.

This most unexpected development caused her to lose her concentration completely and the sword, the creature had gotten a hold of, blinked out of existence.

Taking advantage of the pirate's obvious distress, the demon used the opening to deliver a vicious strike with his claw to her side, vanquishing her second blade as well and sending her flying through the room.

Ryoko was stunned from the blow she had received and unable to access her powers. So she crashed into the far wall painfully. Agony spread through every limb of her body and threatened to overwhelm her for a second as she slumped down the wall. But it passed rather quickly, obviously no serious damage was done.

The pirate opened her eyes just in time to see her opponent towering above her, one of his blades raised, ready to strike. At this sight she gave up her half standing position against the wall, in favor of throwing herself to the ground and thus vacating the spot where the blade of the demon cut a deep shard into the dark material.

She was about to convert her fall into a roll to her left, but was intercepted by the creature's clawed foot and thrown into the air once more before she had a chance to do so.

The reactions of the bulky dragon were surprisingly quick, but this time Ryoko's were quicker. She was a little dizzied by the kick she had received, but she still saw the creature's tail striking out at her, in order to hit her in mid air.

Using the momentum of her flight rather than her own powers, the pirate back flipped into a head up position and simply blocked the tail swipe with her left. Then, before the creature had a chance to react to the new development, she grabbed onto the end of the tail with her right, quickly followed by her left, so that she would have a firm hold of it with both hands.

The demon sounded his annoyance at this situation with a thunderous roar and made a step towards his adversary, intending to free his captured extremity. His approach was cut short though, as Ryoko gave the tail a vigorous tug. He lost his balance and finally collapsed to the floor as the pirate increased her pull. Again he vented his anger in a terrifying shriek, but Ryoko wasn't going to let this chance slip, literally.

She added some spin to her backward movement and quickly sped up her pace, causing the creature to leave the ground. Soon she was spinning the howling dragon around by it's tail at an insane speed and just as she felt her hold slipping, she slammed him down onto the ground with all the power of the wild revolution. The impact was hard enough the leave cracks in the otherwise smooth surface of the floor.

Ryoko gave up her hold on the tail of the creature and eyed it suspiciously. The monstrous black dragon lay totally still, but she had her doubts that a creature like this could be defeated that easily. Her light sword ignited again, she approached her fallen opponent carefully.

When she was within a few feet of the demon his head suddenly jerked up and his cruel eyes locked with hers. For a moment she lost herself in his gaze and then, without warning he spat at her. Instinctively Ryoko's left hand shot out and intercepted the mass of sticky fluid that was aimed at her head. Upon contact she felt a sharp pain as the creature's acidic juices burned into her hand.

With a scream of surprise and pain the pirate shook her hand wildly, ridding herself of most of the acid, but it still left burns to a considerable degree. She wouldn't be able to focus energy with that hand for some time, leave alone forming a sword.

The demon slowly pushed himself up from the ground and Ryoko mentally checked the odds of battle. A very unpleasant pain was still throbbing through her hand, but it could be cast aside for the time. The real handicap was her disability to summon a second energy sword. She knew that with only one blade she wouldn't stand a chance against the speed and power of the creature for long.

Of course she wouldn't have been Ryoko, the dreaded space pirate, if she didn't know how to remedy this little drawback.

The dark dragon had almost reached his full height once more, but Ryoko remained motionless in front of him. Her face betrayed complete concentration. Suddenly her body seemed to become translucent and the next instant she phased out of herself, leaving behind an identical copy. Now there were two Ryoko's facing the demon, both with a red sword ablaze in their right hand.

It was almost possible the see a minuscule amount of confusion mixing with the hatred in the creature's eyes, which wasn't lost on either pirate.

"Seems like we're done with the warm up," the first one said with a fang baring grin.

"Time for the real show," the second one added, both going into a ready stance.

Meanwhile the demon was growing increasingly irritated. He wasn't used to someone standing up to him. He didn't know the meaning of battle, only the meaning of killing and he couldn't understand why he wasn't able to kill. Finally he vented all his hatred, anger and confusion in one ear splitting scream, the sort of which pierced the very soul of humans and then he charged like a bolt of lightning.

The two Ryoko's stood their ground and soon they were locked in combat again. Blades of energy and scales clashed again and again. The speed and power of all three combatants had long since exceeded mortal bounds, but nevertheless it kept increasing with each blow exchanged. For a couple of small eternities there was nothing to observe but an accumulation of swirling colors.

But even the stamina of seemingly invincible beings is limited once they meet an opponent of similar strength and eventually the swirling colors calmed and the flashes of energy became less vigorous as more of the immeasurable time of battle passed.

The advantage in skill and number had left Ryoko mostly unharmed, but though his attacks were seriously lacking strength by now, due to his superior armor the demon hadn't taken much damage either.

Another blade swipe came in on the left pirate, who noticed that this one was suffering from a particular lack in power of execution. Taking a hold of the opportunity she extinguished her own sword and caught the scaly blade with her bare hand, much like the creature had before. Meanwhile her double saved her from being hit by the demon's other blade.

It was a ridiculous picture, the comparatively small woman holding off the mammoth razor of the raging dragon, but Ryoko didn't care. She shifted herself around, so that her back almost made contact with the creature's chest, keeping her grip on the scaly extension. Then she simultaneously brought her elbow down on the demon's arm with all the strength she could muster and flicked her wrist.

The result was devastating. Black scales cracked and shattered with explosive force and then, indicating that the dragon had been harmed for the first time in all of his existence, there was the sickening snap of massive bone from beneath. The pitch black razor wasn't able to stand up to Ryoko's assault either and broke only short of it's base at the creature's wrist, rendering the arm completely useless.

The pirate's victory was cut short, however, as the demon roared in pain and fury. Those two emotions, one old, the other new, enabled him to once more access all his former strength and convert it into one vicious swipe with his right blade, flinging Ryoko's double to the ground like an annoying fly and scoring a deep gash into the side of the one who had caused him so much pain.

Ryoko screamed out in pain and clutched her side, but was still conscious enough to teleport out of the immediate danger zone. Upon rematerializing she instantly merged with her double, unable to keep up the strenuous twin condition. Her side felt like it was aflame and her vision was blurred as she tried to focus her eyes on her opponent.

The left arm of the black nightmare hung limply to his side and his eyes had turned into raging suns, which were trying to consume Ryoko. Another wave of pain washed through the pirate and almost brought her down to her knees. The wound itself wasn't mortal, considering her healing abilities, but the pain clouded her mind and together with the exhaustion from the battle and the ferocious beast in front of her this added for a mortal combination.

As if on cue the demon opened his jaws and started sucking in air. He was going to finish her off by unleashing the fire of hell upon her. Ryoko realized that once he executed the attack she was going to be burned to ashes, because she hadn't enough power left to shield herself from the heat. Summoning every ounce of energy that was left in her body, she formed her energy sword one more time and threw it at the dragon like a spear.

The first sparks of flame already emerged from the depths of his jaws as he took notice of the glowing lance. With another new emotion, surprise, he became aware that he wouldn't be able to avoid the attack anymore.

The blade impaled itself through his jaws just as the full fury of the blaze surged forth. Without further warning the creature's head exploded.

What had once been part of a demonic skull rained down on Ryoko, but she didn't seem to notice. With a grunt she broke to one knee in exhaustion. Only as the torso of the demon finally collapsed to the ground with a loud thud, the realization that she had won the battle sank in on her. Now there was only one thing left to do and she hoped that she had enough power left to accomplish her objective.

Slowly she rose to her feet again and approached the reactor core. It's yellow pulse almost seemed to quicken in anticipation.

* * *

The control center was definitely not constructed under terms of military use. It was the first thing that registered to Kagato's combat hardened mind as he stepped through the burned remains of the unlucky door which had blocked their entrance.

The room's design was approximately that of a half sphere. Most interfaces were placed around the outer perimeter, but there was also a circular rise in the center of the room, which could be accessed by a short set of stairs. It was obviously some kind of command platform and held some stations as well, probably the most vital ones.

Other than the one they had forced their way in through, there were three more doors, making up a perfect cross. From what he saw, Kagato was inclined to the assumption that he was witnessing the brain of a scientific vessel, rather than a military cruiser.

Nagi entered behind him, still limping from her last encounter. She noticed something that Kagato had simply ignored up to now, because it wasn't of any importance to him.

"From the smell of it, this place certainly is something special." The bounty hunter's attempt at dry humor was ruined by the hoarse voice in which it came out. A reminder that she had just escaped death's unswerving clutches.

The same didn't apply to the man, or better to what was left of the man, who Kagato was pointing at in response. The half decayed corpse was lying next to the stairs that led up to the command platform and even from far it was a sight that wasn't meant for people who weren't used to death in all it's ghastly manifestations.

While Kagato passed the body without paying any more attention to it and casually strolled up the stairs of the platform, Nagi was interested in what fate had befallen the unfortunate guy. Judging from what was left of his clothes he had probably been an adventurer or treasure hunter. Dressed in fancy and colorful rather than practical garments, she was surprised that he had made it this far.

She had dealt with guys of that kind before. Usually they showed their true, cowardly character as soon as things got messy around them. Probably this one was an exception from his species, or he just got lucky, or unlucky that is. What really unnerved her, however, was that fact that it was the only sign of life, or rather death, that they had come across so far.

"Where are all the corpses? With all the ships out there this should be more of a crypt than anything." She didn't really expect an answer to her thought, but as she heard Kagato's voice from above she realized that she must have spoken it aloud.

"You have no idea just how old this ship is," he stated with an air of mystery. "It's crew has long since turned to dust and mixed with what is left of those who tried to make their fortune here centuries ago. Despite the appearance, this place isn't too popular. Most likely all the ships out there have gathered over a very long period of time."

"Impressive."

Although it was spoken with Nagi's usual hint of dark sarcasm, Kagato knew that part of her really was impressed at the dimension of the things they were dealing with here and so was he, but unfortunately there was not much they could accomplish at the moment.

"There is no energy to any of the control systems." He turned around from the terminal he had analyzed, to look down at Nagi. "This ship is just as dead as it appears to be," he said, keeping his voice totally neutral, neither covering up his mistake, nor admitting it.

"So this means that we are stuck up here, while Ryoko plunders the rest of the ship?" Nagi asked barely able to contain her anger.

She had meanwhile figured out that trying to intimidate the pirate could be considered a waste of time, but the prospect of having risked her life for nothing, or maybe even to make it easier for Ryoko wasn't something she could simply ignore.

"It does mean that we will have to wait," Kagato answered, cutting short her thoughts of rage and thus infuriating her even more.

"Wait? For what? For her to grab as much treasure as possible and get away with it?" A single laugh escaped the throat of the bounty hunter, but it's lack of humor made it sound more like a bark.

"I doubt she will do this," Kagato stated, completely hiding his own uncertainty behind a mask of calm.

Normally he wasn't a man of faith, but this time the most promising option had been to give up complete control and now that there was no way to retrieve it, he needed to stand or fall with his decision.

"How can you know?" Nagi's voice was dripping with malice.

"Call it intuition."

All the anger the bounty hunter had collected dissolved at this last statement and left her totally dumbfounded. Intuition was the last thing she would expect a man like Kagato to refer to. Obviously it wasn't as easy to figure the pirate out as she had come to think.

She didn't have much time for a new estimation, however, as there was a strange sound from the door opposite the one they had cut down. Both treasure hunters' heads snapped to attention immediately, their conversation about the reliability of space pirates instantly forgotten.

For a second there was silence, then the sound returned, only this time from another door. To Nagi the meaning of those sounds was painfully obvious.

"Looks like we are about to get company."

Before Kagato had any chance to react, one of the doors was ripped open and the pirate was left just enough time to count three demons pouring into the room before the next door fell to the creatures' assault and added another four to the total. None of the demons knew hesitation as they advanced on their cornered prey.

Kagato's dark blade flared to life as three of them simply jumped up to the platform, the others advancing on Nagi's position. One of the creatures lunged for him and he raised his sword to parry the attack.

But the blades never met.

The demon's razor halted in mid-swipe just inches from Kagato's sword of darkness. It's murderous eyes almost seemed to flicker for a moment. If the pirate hadn't known better he would have taken the creature's look for one of confusion and shock.

Then the fire of hatred in it's eyes was blown out. The dead demon fell to the floor as swiftly as he had attacked, making Kagato take a quick step to the side in order to avoid being buried beneath it. Only then he realized that the other creatures had fallen as well.

For endless minutes the control center was quiet once more, disturbed only by the breathing of its two remaining occupants. Then a slight shiver ran through the ground.

"What was that?" Nagi asked, her eyes narrowed like she was expecting another attack.

Kagato's answer was quick and simple. "Ryoko."

As if the word had been a trigger for something, the pirate suddenly adapted a look of deep thought, almost as if he was having an internal conversation.

And actually that was just what he was doing. In his mind Ryoko's voice was clear and would have been as vivid as if she was standing next to him, hadn't it been for the burden of exhaustion it carried.

'Hey guys. I kinda had a little trouble with the mother bugger down here and the core got hit. Only wanted to let ya know that I'm outta here!'

Another explosion rocked the ship, this time nearly strong enough to tear them from their feet.

"Seems like there's nothing left to do for us here. You better leave as well," Kagato said, with nothing but a hint of regret, where others would have thrown their life away for only a shimmer of hope.

"What!" Nagi expressed her current feelings.

But the pirate had already put a hand to his head in concentration and vanished.

"What the hell is going on?" the bounty hunter asked to the emptiness of the room.

The only answer she received was another violent tremor and the sound of an explosion dangerously close by.

"Damn it!" she cursed, but activated her remote transporter nevertheless.

* * *

A minute later the dying cruiser was devoid of all life and death again for the first time in aeons and for the last time in eternity.

Immediately after Nagi had boarded her ship, she checked the status of the cruiser, still curious as to what was going on over there. An outside view of the cruiser and some readouts popped up on the screen. She didn't pay much attention to the readouts though, since the picture more than met up with her expectation already.

Massive explosions could be observed all over the surface of the mighty ship, blowing more and more of it's essence of life out into space. If there was something like death for space ships, the cruiser was dying a slow and excruciatingly painful one.

Paying some attention to the energy readouts after all, Nagi realized that this ship wasn't the only thing that was going to die soon. The energy output was beyond anything she had thought possible. There was going to be an explosion powerful enough to compete with a small super nova. Getting as far away from this place as soon as possible suddenly seemed to be a very good idea.

The Kenryo pulled away from the massive bulk that was currently transforming into a ball of fire and swiftly darted into the forest of junk right behind the Soto-oh and the Souja.

Each of the three ships had it's own unique way of avoiding the many obstacles thrown into their path. The Kenryo skillfully dodged all the wreckages and soon took the lead over the other two.

Kagato wasn't paying as much attention to the ships around him. Every now and then pieces of junk would almost scratch along the hull of the Soto-oh, only to be intercepted and shattered by the pirate's powerful shield.

The Souja, meanwhile, simply blew up any potential obstacles. Ships, junk, debris, everything was vaporized, clearing a perfectly straight path for the pirate.

They had almost reached the outer perimeter, where they would finally be able to escape into hyperspace, as the cruiser exploded. Although, if someone had watched closely, he would have taken notice that it wasn't really an explosion in the old fashioned way, but more of a plain white wall, which quickly expanded into a sphere from out of the cruiser's core.

Even the durable metals of the ancients instantly submitted to the approach of the wall of white. Everything was shattered into pieces by the ultimate energy of the sphere, which was the power of the ancients reactor core unleashed, and everything that made contact with it simply vanished, becoming part of the ever expanding manifestation of destruction.

And the shockwave was almost as fast as destructive.

The three only living ships within the graveyard that was about to transform into a gateway to hell frantically tried to speed up as they took notice of the incoming destruction, which had already engulfed half of all the wrecks.

Nagi and Kagato realized that they weren't going to make it as the shockwave swallowed the last ships behind them and they had still a bunch of junk in front of them, blocking their path into hyperspace.

They could already feel their own ships starting to tremble in anticipation of the energy that was coming their way. It was then that the Souja, which by now seemed to be almost touched by the wave, fired a last barrage. Fueled by the power of desperation the bolts of plasma ripped a pathway through the last remaining ships in front of them.

The two pirates and the bounty hunter accelerated into hyperspace simultaneously as the shockwave consumed everything and continued to expand into the depths of space.

* * *

Three ships of entirely different design suddenly appeared in the depths of space far from any civilization. They had once been enemies and would have fought to death at the mere sight of each other. Now they seemed to be undecided, holding their positions, facing each other, but neither opening fire nor speaking. Only silence.

For endless minutes each of the rivals contemplated on how to face the others and finally at least one of them came to a conclusion.

Inside the Soto-oh Kagato was waiting for the others to make their move. He was willing to hear them out if they wanted to talk or to strike back at them if they wanted to fight. He had already merged his mind with his tree, so he would be able to defend himself efficiently as a transmission from the Souja came in.

"Now that was some action." Ryoko sounded as if she was about to whistle at these words, but then, as neither of the others replied, she continued, "You know, I've another big job to do, so I'll have to leave now."

There was a moment of silence.

"Of course if you're up for a challenge you're invited," the pirate added somewhat hesitantly.

Again silence.

Kagato analyzed the offer quickly. Their mission had failed, but he felt only little regret. They hadn't obtained wealth, but that didn't mean that they had accomplished nothing. In being the first and the last ones to ever escape from the cruiser of legend the true power of their alliance showed. Together they would become truly invincible and they would be able to accomplish anything.

"Well Ryoko, tell me about this job of yours."

Nagi, meanwhile, was caught in a struggle of emotions. To even consider taking an offer from Ryoko was ridiculous, yet she found herself unable to deny the benefits of such an alliance. She had nothing to lose anyway and since she was the top bounty hunter, pirating would become a lot easier if she changed profession. Besides Kagato already seemed to have accepted and if she refused now, they would be enemies again and she would have to face of against the two pirates together, leaving her badly outmatched. Finally she had to admit that their little quest had been the most interesting and thrilling experience in her life so far and that she had enjoyed it.

"I will follow you to the end of the universe, Ryoko. If this means I need to do this together with you guys, so be it."

And Ryoko told them about their next job and they were very impressed.

* * *

Chapter notes:

This chapter was meant to make up for the lack of action in the last one. Furthermore it is a test for me to see if I am able to pull off long battle scenes by now. As always, your opinion is of the essence. Please tell me what you think about this chapter and it's battles, especially the one between Ryoko and the black dragon.

By the way, I wrote all of this chapter on my own, except the introduction with Trake and Nagi, which is originally from my sister.

Special thanks to Geor-sama for putting up with reading this long chapter and pointing out my mistakes to me.

See you in the next chapter and hopefully on my page.


	10. Reluctant Intrusion

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of their original creators and all those affiliated with them. I have neither created them, nor do I own them. Any new characters as well as the events within this story are created by me and my sister, so they are our property. This story is written for fun and as an homage to the world of Tenchi.

* * *

Chapter 9 - Reluctant Intrusion

"Watch out, Burak! There's another one coming from behind." Saira pointed at one of the filthy screens, which was showing at least ten red spots, one getting closer to the center of the display with frightening speed.

"You won't get us," the leader of the pirate gang murmured as he stirred the Ashrow into a twirled loop to the left.

Bright blue sparks were blown into space as the attacking patrol ship's plasma bolt grazed the pirate's hull. A slight shudder ran through the metallic construction and made everyone on board painfully aware of the vulnerability of their ship.

Nearly everyone.

"Damned idiots! You will pay for that!" Nana shouted furiously.

Swiftly her fingers danced over the panel in front of her, while she kept at cursing the GP ship.

Suddenly the Ashrow trembled again, but this time it was the GP officer who had to worry about his ship. A softly pulsing orange ball formed in front of the pirate, took off and speeded for the patrol ship.

"Great shot!" Bogly shouted with enthusiasm as the patroller was instantly vaporized.

"Maybe," Burak replied seriously, "But it seems you have forgotten that we took the plasma bombs along for another reason."

"Man, can't we have a little fun? We already figured out that tying to hurt those bastards with our blasters is ineffective and a waste of time. After all we have to plant a fear for Burak's Gang into their hearts," Nana argued confidently. "Besides, we still have two bombs left."

All the while Tenchi kept his eyes fixed on the familiar blue debris out there. He felt like he was trapped in a bad dream, unable to understand how a normal human could wipe out another life without hesitation and call it fun afterwards.

He himself was supposed to sit in the pilot's chair of one of the GP ships and try his best to prevent a dozen pirate ships from freeing their dangerous mates. Instead he was standing in the middle of the bridge of their flagship, clothed as one of them and watched his new friends destroy his former comrades and a part of his own past with them.

Doubts about his decision were gathering up in Tenchi's mind.

Their plan was as risky as it was simple: While the pirate ships distracted the resident defense fleet, the Ashrow would leave the area of their immediate attention and stealthily sneak around the prison, where there should be a small blind spot in the sensor grid of the construction. With the help of the Zusom they would break through the powerful energy barrier of the station and blow a hole into the outer wall, through which they were going to board and hopefully stay unnoticed for a while.

It had only been a couple of minutes since the battle had started, but it was already becoming obvious that the small shabby pirate ships were far inferior to the modern GPs. Nevertheless, the pirates fought bravely and tried to lure the ships away from the prison at their best.

"Please don't risk our mission for fun, Nana," Saira said with an unusually serious expression on her face.

But before the other woman had a chance to react Burak shouted, "Hold on to something! This is going to be close!"

Having gazed out to the front thoughtfully, Tenchi had seen the situation coming, but he hadn't realized that the Ashrow was in immediate danger until Burak's shout had brought him to attention.

Three patrol ships were headed directly for their ship, releasing an incessant storm of deadly energy. Burak tried to prevent the ship from being hit, but the Ashrow wasn't by far as agile as the GP-ships.

Tenchi found himself skidding towards the back of the bridge as the pirate captain brutally pulled up the ship. He had just enough time to take hold of a metallic handle before he heard a screeching sound, followed by Saira's scream. The ships gravity was gone in a matter of seconds, but fortunately everyone, except Bogly, had followed Burak's advice and taken a hold on something.

"Burak! What are you doing!?" the greasy man shouted as he tried to move into the pilot's direction.

But of course he got no answer. His feet hooked under the control panel, Burak typed commands into it, making the Ashrow randomly slide through space like a leaf in the wind for a second. Then the pirate ship suddenly rotated around it's vertical axis at an angle of about ninety degrees, lost a couple of thousand feet height within the blink of an eye and finally turned sideways, shooting forward at maximum speed.

Two of their attackers were shaken off by the maneuver, but one of them actually managed to copy it. He was still right behind the Ashrow, wildly chasing her towards the space prison. The pirate moved as swiftly as possible and even more, yet the blue bolts of the GP seemed to miss him only by inches.

"I think it's time for another plasma bomb," Nana shouted over the noise of creaking metal.

"No!" Burak yelled back with determination and made the Ashrow fly another screw.

The GP followed straight, ending up directly in front of the pirate.

Saira observed a yellow light building up from the other ships main blasters and she realized that they were not likely going to escape this attack.

However, just as the GP-pilot was about to get in the killing blow, two bolts were fired at him. One by another pirate and one by Nana, who had used the diversion to get a lock at his ship.

Starting from the main cannons a huge wave of explosions rolled over the patroller, leaving it to drift in space.

A massive piece of rusty metal crushed down right in front of Tenchi as the gravity was reactivated.

"You crazy, Burak?" Bogly slowly got up from the ground, his face contorted in pain.

The pirate captain kept his gaze directed to the front, where the prison's outline was growing in size.

"That was for your own safety," he stated without any emotion.

Tenchi wondered if maybe Burak had gone insane. Flying such wild maneuvers without gravity was everything but safe. The same thing seemed to be on Bogly's mind.

"What?!" he shouted, but was immediately interrupted by Nana.

"Shut up you idiot! Have you ever tried an evasive maneuver with the Ashrow, gravity turned on?"

Bogly shook his head grimly.

"Be grateful about that."

After putting a halt to any possible objections with these harsh words, Nana returned her attention to her instruments.

The only one who was left completely in the dark about what was going on was Tenchi. He didn't waste much thought on it, however, because there were more urgent problems at hand, the most important one being the question if they would be able to penetrate the prison's energy barrier without being noticed. Up to now everything had worked out just fine. While the other ships kept the attention of the fleet, the Ashrow was on her way to pass the station and approach it from behind. Once out of eyesight of the patrol ships, Burak would switch off the main engines. They were going to fly with nothing but maneuver thrusters and hopefully avoid the GSP's scanners this way.

Exactly in this instant the omnipresent humming of the machines faded away. Unnatural silence enveloped all those present on the bridge.

"Soon we'll find out if our plan was good enough," Burak said, leaning back in his chair.

"We will do it," Saira announced and everyone nodded.

Tenchi gave a sign of approval as well, although he had major doubts about their mission going to be a success. From a distance that seemed to be less than 300 meters, he looked in awe at the huge walls of the prison. It was made of a very resistant and durable material, but Burak was confident that it wouldn't be able to withstand the force of a plasma bomb.

Tenchi was just about to assess their chances once more as the door behind him opened with a hiss.

Landsville entered, followed by two other young men. After the door had closed behind them, they stopped.

"Our ships are going to retreat in five minutes. The Zusom is waiting for the signal."

Burak just nodded, but Saira turned around and cast a questioning glance at the man standing to the right of Landsville.

"So, is your virus going to work?" she asked and received a shrug.

"I see no reason why it shouldn't. It's not that difficult to import a simple virus, that only influences a single process, into their system."

He brushed through his short brown hair with his hand.

"The only purpose of the virus is to prevent the message transport between the local force field generators and the main processor. Since this is not a vital procedure in the least, there are no security scripts. The virus will be masked as a message from the main processor when we transmit it directly through the com. We only need to be careful that the signal won't give us away. If everything works out, the force field will close up the hole created by our attack, but nobody will ever notice that there was a hole in the first place. See, very simple."

"Right." Landsville slapped the young man on the shoulder. "What would we do without our little genius Glinn?"

Everyone joined in with his laughter, except Burak, who kept his concentration on stirring the ship closer to the wall of the prison.

"Instead of joking around you should rather run through the plan one more time," he said gruffly.

"Right you are, captain," Landsville responded with a short smile before he turned to the group.

"Once we are inside, we'll split into two groups. Burak, Saira, Bogly and Glinn will head for the vital generator room. Tenchi, Nana and myself are going up to the tenth section, where Ryoko and Nagi are being held. Our objective is only to free those two. Dealing with any more prisoners would be too much of a risk, so we will have to disable the other cell occupants directly from the section's control panel before the others deactivate the generator. Normally the backup generators would kick in immediately, but Glinn is going to take care of this. Most of the systems will come back on right away, but the cells' force fields and the magnetic seals of the doors will stay down for a couple of minutes. We have to act quickly at this point..."

"You don't need to go on. We all know that we'll have to return to the ship as fast as possible once we are done," Nana interrupted him.

"Well then," Landsville adjusted his glasses and turned his attention out to the front. "It seems we are all set, so let's move to the final part."

Tenchi tensed as the Ashrow stopped. The GSP was filling the entire view field by now, but the young man knew that the wall wasn't the only obstacle they had to overcome.

"Saira, give the signal to the Zusom on my command. Nana, don't fire the plasma bomb before you see the barrier waver or everything will be in vain."

"Burak..." Nana leaned over to him as if she was going to tell him a secret. "I know what I have to do."

"Good. Get ready everyone. Give the signal, Saira."

Saira did as she was told.

The signal reached the Zusom almost instantly. The smaller pirate ship had been under attack for quite a while by then, but as the appointed transmission came in all people on board knew that their little cat and mice game was going to end soon.

One last time the Zusom turned towards the GSP. It took no longer than a second for an orange ball of energy to power up, then the pulsing object was fired into the direction of the prison. The Zusom's first man gave the order to retreat.

Just as the pirates started to fall back the plasma bomb impacted with the GSP's shield and was absorbed.

However, not being constructed for the purpose of taking in so much energy, the barrier wavered and Nana did her job. The discharge fired by the Ashrow went right through the temporarily weakened shield and hit the wall of the construction. The detonation blew an average sized hole in the hull just like everyone had hoped.

"Let's go," Burak said and accelerated.

The Ashrow moved once again and stopped right next to the new entrance. As Burak was going at turning off all the ships systems, there was a humming sound and a flash of light.

"See, the force field," Glinn announced.

Nobody dared to move a limb.

"What are you waiting for? They have no idea of what just happened. As I said, the virus is working perfectly."

"Hope you are right," Nana said and taking her statement as a sign, everyone stood up.

"Take care of the ship," Burak told the other young man. "We will be back soon."

Tenchi was the last one to leave the bridge. Almost like in trance he followed the pirates, strode through the narrow connecting passage with the smell of burned metal, climbed over fallen pieces of paneling and ducked past hanging struts.

Burak's voice from farther ahead reached his ear, but Tenchi didn't understand what he was saying. He didn't care either, simply because every additional word was meaningless. Tenchi knew what he had to do.

The pirates had stopped in front of the exit hatch. There was a deafening hiss, followed by an earsplitting screech. A faint glimmer of light penetrated the smoky darkness of the Ashrow.

Momentarily blinded, Tenchi closed his eyes. As he felt ready to open them again, the others had already resumed their way. He stood there, dumbfounded, and stared into the brightly lit corridor of the GSP. It almost seemed as if the Ashrow had melted with the prison. There was not the smallest gap between the prison and the ship. Only a couple of steps in front of him extended a familiar world.

"Tenchi! What are you waiting for?" Nana shouted.

And several seconds later Tenchi stood among the six pirates in a corridor of the GSP.

"Okay, everyone knows what to do," Burak explained.

"We'll meet again on the Ashrow," Landsville replied.

Saira looked at Tenchi and smiled. "Take care."

Tenchi just nodded.

"Come on, don't waste time," Nana reminded them of the mission and without another word Burak and Landsville ran off into opposite directions, their companions following close behind.

* * *

Inside the fourth cell of the tenth section sat the woman who had inspired the security standards under which the Grand Space Prison was build. Although the entire station and especially the tenth section was constructed for the purpose of containing the most powerful and dangerous criminals, its operators had never really expected that they were going to host Ryoko, the queen of space pirates one time. Now she was there and her mere presence caused awe and more than a hint of uneasiness among the majority of the officers on board.

Of course Ryoko didn't know about any of this. All she knew was that, an immeasurable amount of time ago, she had woken up in much the same place she was in now. It had taken her some time to remember what had happened before, as she had obviously been heavily drugged, but eventually she had figured it out. She had been betrayed by her client. Her instincts had told her that the guy couldn't be trusted, but she had ignored them and now she was paying the price.

Her assumption was that he had sold her out to the GP. There was no way she could know for sure, however, because she had seen nothing and nobody except from the frugal interior of her cell since she had recovered. There was a food generator and an uncomfortable bed to lie down on during night periods.

Ryoko hadn't used either of them. She hadn't been in the mood for food or sleep, but rather to test out the holding capacity of the cell. The results were that her teleportation and phasing abilities were blocked and the walls were energy reflective, which had caused her quite some trouble upon finding out.

Following the trail of thought that she was in a GP cell, she found it most likely that this was the Grand Space Prison, constructed solely for the containment of criminals with tremendous power or abilities. If they really thought they could keep her here, they had made a grave mistake.

If there was something that Ryoko hated, it was being robbed of her freedom. By now she had calmed down a little, but for the first couple of hours after her recovery she had raged in her cell like a madwoman. Obviously this had some people worried, because they had tried to remotely sedate her, only to find that such cheap tricks had no effect on her. Even so she finally had to realize that she was wasting her energy and had confined her fury in her mind for the time, standing totally still in the middle of the room, trying to stare a hole in the energy barrier in front of her with the evil eye.

Even if it took years, eventually someone would have to come and check up on her. She almost pitied the unfortunate guys, because they were going to experience the full range of her anger and then she was going to retake her freedom, teach those GPs a lesson and get her revenge on the guy who sold her out.

Such thoughts were what had kept Ryoko going over the past days, but in the back of her mind, there were other emotions as well. She was worried, not about her situation, because she knew it was only temporary, but about Tenchi. Although she had never met them in person, she knew that the people she had entrusted with his safety were reliable. The problem was that Tenchi, just like her, seemed to have a talent for getting himself into trouble. In case it really took years for her to get out of this place, he could have already died in a thousand different fashions and this idea, even if it seemed impossible, enraged her more than the GP, the guy who sold her out and her own inability to foresee the trap together.

There was no way she could wait for a chance for years. She needed to get out of here right now.

Just as she was about to give up her stoic position and test her powers against those of the cell once more, she felt something. It was a tremble that ran through the ground, so minor a normal human probably wouldn't even pick it up. But Ryoko had felt it often enough to know what it meant. It was a side effect of plasma blasts being absorbed into the shield of a ship. There were a couple of other explanations for such an effect, but at the time, the pirate could only think of one.

The prison was under attack. Maybe this was the chance of escape she was waiting for.

* * *

The sound had changed. First it had been dominated by the low humming of mechanical components, but after only a few minutes a fast and steady beat had started to displace everything else. The once wide floors were narrowing a little more with each step. The color of the walls had slowly changed from a very bright blue, over various gray shades, to an almost light absorbing black. By now it would have been hard to detect the movement of the four figures from further away. At the end of the tunnel, the corridor had transformed into, no light could be seen.

The small group was running down the corridor as fast as possible. Almost too fast, in fact.

"Hey... Burak! Stop!"

Burak stopped and turned around to face Bogly, who had fallen behind quite a bit and was now supporting himself against one of the dark blue sidewalls.

"What's the matter?" Saira, who had been running right in front of Bogly, asked.

"Why... do we... have to... go... so fast?" the greasy man said, trying to catch his breath.

Glinn had turned as well and was the one who answered instead of Saira, since she obviously had troubles coming up with a quick response.

"First, we are running on no more than an average speed and second, we don't have any time to waste."

Saira couldn't help but think that this order of reasons sounded kind of insulting and she wondered if the young man had chosen it on purpose.

Bogly did the same, but he hadn't recovered enough energy for a proper response, so Glinn just continued.

"In case you don't know, we are following a distinct time schedule. We have to reach our target generator within 25 minutes after separating from the other team. This way we will have five minutes to shut down the energy and hack into the system in order to delay the backup. It's of top priority that we are going to make it within those 30 minutes, because otherwise Landsville and the others won't be able to enter the 10th section's cellblock. They will be standing in front of closed doors and that means..."

"Hey, we're not here for a coffee klatch," Burak's voice cut in, followed by his steps.

"... we have to go," Glinn added with a shrug and hurried after their leader.

"Come on, Bogly. It can't be that much further."

Saira waited until Bogly had separated himself from the wall with an audible groan, gave him another encouraging smile and fell into step behind the others just fast enough so that she was still able to hear Bogly's dragging steps behind her.

Soon she had caught up with Glinn.

"How far is it?" she asked falling into step next to the young man.

"Not that far. About 2000 meters I guess." He gave her a short grin and looked back with quite an amount of gloat in his eyes. "I don't understand why Burak brought Bogly along in the first place. He's not of any help at all," he continued in an almost thoughtful voice.

"Maybe he hasn't the greatest stamina of us, but he can deal out quite some damage in a fight, that might come in handy," Saira responded and fastened her pace, because she wasn't in the mood to talk to Glinn right now.

However, it wasn't that easy to lose the young man.

"I don't think we will get into any difficulties. Nobody will expect someone to try blowing up one single generator, when there are nine others, which would take over it's work instantly. We can easily see the truth in this in the fact that we haven't encountered a single security team yet."

Saira didn't answer. She was quite positive that it been nothing but sheer luck that they hadn't encountered any policemen up to now, but starting a discussion about it with the computer specialist was the last thing she was going to do.

"Moreover, we are not using the easiest route leading to the reactor room. Most GPs won't even know about these pathways here and once we return to the main corridor, it will be too late for them to stop us."

Seeing that Burak had almost reached the second fork, Saira hurried faster. She was going to like the company of the composed grumpy man a thousand times better than that of the over talkative junior genius. But it didn't seem to be any trouble for Glinn to keep up with her and go on with his explanations at the same time.

"See, we have minimized the chance of being discovered accidentally as much as possible."

Burak's loud curse and the sound of a fired blaster instantly made a mockery of Glinn's last words.

It had been exceptionally bad luck, that the two officers had looked into his direction, exactly the moment in which Burak had peeped out from behind the corner. One of them had used his weapon instantly and only thanks to his fast reaction the pirate had managed to avoid the shot.

The officer didn't get a second chance to hit him. In one swift motion the pirate captain threw himself to the ground, drew his own weapon and returned fire. Even before the officer had a chance to understand why his partner collapsed to the ground, he felt a burning pain in his chest.

"Burak!" Saira shouted and stooped down next to the fallen man, weapon in hand.

"I'm alright. But we have to hurry. Maybe someone has heard the commotion."

Burak straightened himself up and cast a questioning glance at Glinn. The young man had made a short visual scan of the two guardsmen and just shook his head at Burak's unspoken question.

Burak nodded. "That way." He pointed to the right. "Hurry!"

Without wasting any more words the other two pirates followed their leader.

Just as they were about to enter the next corridor, Saira looked back once more. Bogly was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

They had been running down the corridors for a couple of minutes already, but fortunately there hadn't been any encounters yet. Tenchi hoped that it would stay that way, but he knew that these hopes were illusionary. Galaxy Police prisons weren't exactly overcrowded places, but their local forces weren't suffering from a lack of men either.

"Each institution will be provided with just enough men to ensure topmost security," they had learned at the academy. And in case of the GSP this meant that the security forces had to be of considerable strength. Facing reality, it was a small miracle that they had gone unnoticed up to now.

"How's the time, Lands?" Nana asked, not slowing down her steps.

The read haired pirate was right behind Landsville and next to Tenchi, creating the old fashioned, but effective triangle formation.

Landsville cast a glance at his watch.

"We've got almost 25 minutes to count zero. Seems we are making better progress than expected. At this rate we should be able to reach the elevator in less than five minutes."

"It's going to be guarded," Tenchi pointed out, with more than a hint of anticipation in his voice.

Landsville slowed a little and half turned to Tenchi as he answered. "We can't risk the success of the mission and since timing is of the essence, we'll have to take them out quickly," the tall pirate said with more sympathy than Tenchi had expected in the situation.

"I know," he stated somberly, as Landsville increased his pace once more.

"What's the matter, Tenchi. Are you going to tell me that the partner of the great Ryoko is unable to deal with a couple of lowly GP scum?"

Tenchi inwardly flinched at the question, but Landsville cut in before he had a chance to answer by himself.

"Leave him alone, Nana. You have to keep in mind that not everybody enjoys hurting and killing people as much as you."

Once again, the corridor branched in two directions in front of them. They took the left one without further notice.

Nana made a disparaging sound at the other pirate's words. "He's just a..."

"Intruders! Halt right there!" she was cut short by the leader of a squad of GPs, who had just appeared on the other end of the hallway.

"Oh shit," the red haired pirate exclaimed, but still fired her blaster at one of the men immediately.

The unfortunate GP officer was too surprised at the sudden appearance of the intruders as to react. He was hit in the chest and went down. The sight of their fallen comrade, however, caused the rest of the officers to snap out of their shock and before any of the pirates could get in another shot, they drew their own blasters and opened fire.

"Take cover!" Landsville shouted and slipped behind one of the metal braces, which supported the corridor in regular intervals.

The other two followed his example, Nana falling back to the left, next to Landsville and Tenchi to the right. From their new position, the two original pirates fired back at the GPs, but the officers had scattered behind the braces as well, so nobody was able to get in an easy hit.

Tenchi, meanwhile, was in mental agony. His worst nightmare had come true. All the time he had somehow managed to delude himself into believing that this wasn't going to happen, that they were just going in to rescue Ryoko from the death she did not deserve. But here he was, watching his new comrades handing out death to people who possibly deserved it even less than Ryoko. And all because of him, because of his selfish desires to find out about the powers inside of him and his connection to the pirate.

But there was more. Back then, on board the Souja, a powerful force had awakened inside of Tenchi and though he was consciously shutting it out of his mind, it still strongly influenced his actions. And right now it told him that there was no going back anymore, he had long since reached a turning point in his life. He wasn't ready to accept it yet, but his encounter with the space pirate Ryoko had changed everything.

Another blast hit the wall beside him and made him aware of his situation once more. The GP squad had counted about five man, minus the one that already went down, but reinforcements could arrive any second. Even if he was able to fight his former colleagues like enemies, they would still be in major trouble.

"What are you waiting for, Tenchi?! Help us already!" Nana shouted at him, only to worsen his mental conflict even more.

He raised the sonic blaster, which he had gotten back from the pirates for this mission and eyed it like a poisonous beast. Maybe all of his thoughts and doubts were pointless anyway, because he had already sold his soul for a chance to stand up against Ryoko. The infernal weapon in his hand showed him once more exactly how far he had distanced himself from his old life already. There was a reason that such weapons were forbidden, the things that a sonic blaster could do to the human body were unthinkable for most people.

"I can't," he whispered.

"What?!"

"I CAN'T!" Tenchi shouted, slamming the weapon into the holster.

Again enemy fire rained down on them and made any further conversation impossible for a couple of seconds. But even over the distance and the blaster fire, Tenchi could see the expression of anger on Nana's face. And that of sympathy on Landsville's.

"Nana, we can't afford losing any more time here!" the pirate shouted over the sounds of combat at the woman next to him, as he cast another glance at his watch.

"Alright, take the cry baby and get going. He isn't much help anyway."

"Tenchi! Get ready, we're moving out!" He pointed down the corridor, in the direction they had come from.

"You can't be serious!" Tenchi shouted back, not having heard the conversation between the two pirates.

"I will cover you! Now get the hell outta here!" the red haired woman screamed out some of her anger.

"Take care and try to return in one piece, Nana," Landsville told his fellow pirate as he prepared to run.

"You too, Lands. And keep an eye on our baby face over there, he totally pisses me off most of the time, but I think he's not half bad after all." She gave Landsville a genuine smile, something she hadn't done often in the past. "NOW MOVE!"

Nana gave up her cover and blasted away at the GPs from the middle of the corridor like she had gone berserk, forcing them to take cover and cease their fire for a moment.

And that was all the time that Tenchi and Landsville needed to dash down the corridor into the other direction. After they had made a couple of steps, blaster fire erupted around them once more, as Nana had to give up her attack. Fortunately, they were already too far for any of the officers to get a good shot at them and so they continued running down the corridor.

Their time was running with them, inexorable towards count zero.

* * *

Bogly was mumbling silent curses at Burak as he slowly made his way through the corridors.

Of course he had no idea if this was the same way the others had taken. Burak had described the route they were going to take to the generator beforehand, but in an absolutely incomprehensible way. Besides it had never been Bogly's interest to be able to understand the complicated jungle that were the corridors of the GSP. After all he wasn't planning on taking up a job as guide of this place.

How should he have known that Burak would start running like a madman after a little fire fight.

In case the pirate captain had worried about the three guards that had arrived at the intersection shortly after, it had been for nothing. It had taken Bogly no longer than two minutes to send them into the realm of unconsciousness. Unfortunately, he hadn't been able to knock out the guy with the communicator right away, but he had corrected this mistake long before the reinforcements he had probably called had a chance to arrive.

Just in case Bogly had left quickly as well. However, upon realizing that he wouldn't be able to catch up with the others, he had slowed in his pace until he was merely walking.

"Burak you damnable bastard," he cursed once more.

It seemed like they had left him behind on purpose. He was going to get back at Burak for that. After the captain had put a stop to Bogly's rescue plans for Nagi back then, the greasy man wasn't getting along with the captain anymore anyway.

Maybe if he killed Burak in a public fight he would become his successor. But then again, it was unlikely, because Landsville would probably take the lead in such a situation. He was Burak's right hand and quite intelligent. Furthermore he had the full support of almost all the pirates. Only few did share Bogly's opinion usually.

He was forced to put his thoughts of revenge aside for the time as the path split in front of him for the second time. The last time he had simply chosen the left way, because it had seemed opportune to him, but to decide like this again this time could be a mistake. On the other hand there was a good chance that the right way would just lead him back to where he started, or worse, directly into a corridor crowded with GPs.

Contemplating like that, he stood in the middle of the intersection, his gaze shifting between the two ways.

Suddenly there was a sound. It was distant, but Bogly quickly identified the sound of something hitting the floor at regular intervals. Footsteps. From the sound of it, there were at least ten people closing in on him.

Since Bogly had yet to decide which way he was going to take, he quickly retreated a few steps into the corridor he had come from, just enough for him to be sure that whoever was coming wouldn't be able to spot him immediately. He just hoped that they wouldn't decide to take his path, because that would have gotten him into serious trouble.

Fortunately, the steps soon receded and as Bogly carefully risked a quick look out of his cover. He could just see the last man vanish down the right corridor.

"Well, it's decided," he thought as he stepped up to the intersection once more, crossed it without hesitation and took the left passage. The last thing he was going to do right now was to follow a GP patrol.

However, only a few minutes later he was forced to decide once again. This time he cursed Burak for not allowing communicators during the time of the operation. If he had had one, he wouldn't have been forced to make decisions out of the blue, which might very well have had an impact on the outcome of the entire mission.

Even if he didn't know what exactly it was, Bogly was fairly certain that Burak had taken him along with his group for a reason. Actually, there had almost been an argument, because Bogly would have liked it much better to accompany Landsville and keep a watchful eye on the boy.

He decided on the left corridor.

He had his suspicions about this Tenchi guy. Ryoko's partner or not, one thing was for sure, the boy wasn't going to be able to free the space pirate. Bogly knew that Burak and Landsville would have done better to entrust him with this task. He would not have only gotten Ryoko out of there, but Nagi as well.

"Go to hell, Burak!"

Cursing at his captain like this, Bogly suddenly heard someone barking orders. For a second he thought he had been spotted, but as he spun around, he realized that he was still alone. Apparently the voice had come from further up ahead.

Slowly Bogly moved in on the source of the commotion until the passage merged into a large corridor directly on front of him. He was just about to check out the hallway as he heard the voice again, much closer this time. In a swift motion he backed away against the wall of the passage and tried to slow his breath.

From what he had gotten of the shouting, they were moving convoy of prisoners, so there were probably some attentive and heavily armed GPs around. As much as he hated to admit it, this was way out of his league.

Soon the first officers passed the passageway. Luckily, none of them bothered to look his way. It seemed like they were quite confident. Of course, Bogly wasn't going to complain about it. He hadn't expected otherwise from a bunch of GP bastards. Finding it difficult to control his hatred, Bogly started playing with the thought of just attacking them.

Exactly in this moment the first prisoner passed by the passage and his field of vision. The sight almost made Bogly flinch. Over there, escorted down the corridor by a troop of heavily armed officers, was Burak.

* * *

Ten minutes. A quick glance at his watch had told Tenchi that he had about ten minutes left. Although he was already running at top speed, he tried to increase his pace even more. If he managed to reach his destination in time, it was going to be awfully close.

They had to make a major detour after they had withdrawn from combat. Now it turned out that it really had been a good thing to study the prison's layout in preparation for the mission. Since the GSP wasn't a secret institution but rather the pride of the Galaxy Police, it hadn't been too difficult for the pirates to acquire some old plans of the interior. This, together with Tenchi carefully slipping some information about GP tactics, was the main back hold of their plan.

There were various access points for the lifts, but unlike most other constructions of such size, they weren't all interlinked with each other. The complicated network was supposed to grant topmost security and to prevent any potential attempt at escape.

However, recollecting his academic knowledge, Tenchi had managed to locate the proper access points which where nearest to the artificial entrance they had created. He had told the pirates that he had been in a GP institution, similar to the GSP once before, which wasn't even a lie. Much to his surprise they had bought it and gladly accepted the information he had provided.

One thing he hadn't known though, and neither had any of the pirates except Landsville. The reason why they had to split up only shortly after they had escaped from the fire fight. They had been on their way to the next entrance, which was quite a bit farther than the one they had been cut off from, as Landsville had suddenly stopped at another intersection and faced him seriously.

"You're on your own from here, Tenchi," he had told him.

Tenchi had asked for the meaning of this and the pirate had explained to him about a new security system, which had been recently installed. Each lift section would be watched from a separate control center, so no one could use the lift unnoticed and without being scanned thoroughly. The only way to get past this obstacle would be to take over the lift control of the section they were going to use and Landsville had declared that he was going to do just this.

Of course Tenchi had asked how he had gotten to such detailed information and why he hadn't told him and the other pirates beforehand, but he had only received a mysterious smile from the tall man.

"If I had told them, Burak would have considered canceling the mission, because it was too risky. I couldn't let this happen."

Then Landsville had left him with the words that their time was running short and they needed to hurry. According to his watch, it was only a couple of minutes since then, but for Tenchi it seemed like an eternity.

He had almost run into another patrol of three man in this time, but luckily he had noticed them in time to take cover and the dangerous moment had passed with them. Right then, Tenchi had fought with the idea of just calling out to the men. If he had explained everything to them and helped them to put a halt to the pirates' plan, perhaps they would have believed him and he would have gotten a chance to restore his old life.

But he had realized that it was nothing but an illusion. Even if they had actually spoken him free of the crimes he was thought to have committed, such an action would most likely have been Ryoko's ultimate death sentence. Back then he had come to understand that it was time to finally face the truth. He had become a pirate, even if it had happened against his will and like someone had told him endless days ago, being a pirate wasn't a profession, a job you lay down when you feel like it or you are forced to. It was a destination. You were a pirate with all your heart, in every situation, all the time, your whole life. He was a pirate now, and his old life wasn't going to return.

As the lift entrance finally came into sight, Tenchi forced the unpleasant thoughts away, to concentrate on the matters at hand again. As he had expected, the lift was guarded, so he quickly ducked out of the man's field of view. Carefully he drew his blaster and thought about his options.

Landsville had been right, they needed to hurry. Every delay could screw up the time plan and that in turn would mean ultimate failure of their mission. The quickest and most efficient course of action would be to just shoot the man down and enter the elevator. He hadn't noticed Tenchi yet, so the guard probably wouldn't be able to avoid a direct attack.

Of course, for Tenchi, none of this was an option. Pirate or not, he wasn't going to consciously kill a person, much less just because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But fortunately, shooting people wasn't the only use of the powerful weapon he held in his hand. His idea was risky and definitely not his style, but it was the only thing that came to his mind of how to quickly get past the guy without seriously hurting him.

He took a cautious glance out of his cover and, as he realized the guard wasn't looking in his direction, aimed the blaster. No sound emerged as he pulled the trigger, only a almost invisible distortion in the air in front of the weapon. But not much more than the fraction of a second later, the wall opposite his position from the lift deformed with a loud crack. Immediately the head of the guard post snapped to attention and he drew his weapon.

"Who's there?!" he shouted with a clearly nervous undertone in his voice.

Tenchi mentally corrected his chances of success up a few notches. Judging from the voice of the man he was young and hopefully inexperienced. Most likely a rookie on guard duty, like he had been only a couple of years ago.

"I said, show yourself!" the guard demanded and made another step into the wrong direction.

Deciding that this was as good an opportunity as he would get, Tenchi holstered his blaster and dashed out of his cover. In the short seconds he needed to reach the lift and the man, time seemed to slow down. He could see the man turn around at the sound of his fast steps and for a moment he feared he had miscalculated the distance. Then he saw the look of terror on the face of the young man and the sight burned itself deep into his soul, like a nasty scar. The guard reached for his weapon, Tenchi tried to run faster and then it was over. Time got back to normal as the man brought up his blaster and Tenchi made a desperate jump, crossing the remaining distance between him and the man. The weapon went off just as he hit the rookie, missing him only be inches.

Both young men were torn to the ground by the force of his impact. Instantly after they had made painful contact with the floor, the guard tried to bring up his weapon again, but Tenchi did his best to prevent just that. Lying on top of his adversary helped a lot, but unfortunately his weight didn't suffice to keep the man down and soon they ended up rolling around on the ground, struggling over the man's blaster.

Finally Tenchi managed to get one of his arms free and instead of instantly reaching for the weapon, he brought his fist down into the face of his opponent with all the force he could muster. With this attack he was in for two surprises. First, the agonizing pain that exploded through his hand upon contact and second, that the man's struggling ceased and he actually went limp.

Still slightly dazed, Tenchi got up. He sacrificed a second to savor this small victory, then he went over to the control panel of the lift and entered his commands. He didn't have to wait too long until the door slid open and revealed the small empty chamber that was the lift. As he entered hesitantly, he was well aware that this cabin could turn into a final trap. It was all up to Landsville now.

The door closed behind him and the lift set into motion, which Tenchi took as a good sign so far. After a minute or two, in which the rookie pirate was barely able to contain his agitation, the lift slowed down and finally stopped. This was it, the moment of truth.

Tenchi tensed, expecting a harsh voice demanding his identification, or the door sliding open revealing a squad of officers. But none of this happened.

"Well done, Tenchi," came Landsville's voice over the speakers instead. "You are in for the final stage."

Tenchi's tension dissolved in a sigh of relief at the sound of the pirate's voice.

"I guess you are on your own again from this point. This is probably the last time we will speak to each other. Go free Ryoko and always remember one thing: You can't cling to the past forever, there will come a time where you must let go, but don't let your ideals vanish with it. Save them and maybe a new path will open up for you. Let your heart lead the way. Good luck, Tenchi. Maybe one day we will meet again."

"Landsville, wait!" Tenchi managed to get out in spite of his shock at the pirate's words.

But Landsville had already closed the connection.

"Thank you," Tenchi murmured more to himself as the lift set into motion again.

* * *

Keeping his gaze locked to the back of the man in front of him, Burak did the only thing that was left to do for him now and followed the GPs' lead. He had no idea how they had managed to locate his group that quickly, but then again, Burak didn't think that their encounter with the armed GP squad was just a coincidence either.

Still, he might have been able to avoid the confrontation, hadn't it been for Glinn's constant chattering. He had allowed himself to get distracted with his attempts to silence what was obviously the young pirate's understanding of small talk and like this, hadn't realized that the main corridor had been heavily guarded.

However, this was hardly the right time to mentally blame himself or Glinn. If they didn't find a way out of their miserable situation soon, the entire operation was lost as well as all its participants.

Carefully as to not draw unwanted attention, Burak diverted his gaze from between the shoulders of the officer in front of him and took in the situation once more. As he did so, he noticed the questioning glances Saira and Glinn gave him. Probably they thought he had some kind of plan in mind. But in fact Burak had only chosen to lay down his weapon because he had seen no chance of winning a fire fight against an armed squad of about fifteen officers.

Where ever they were leading them, there was nothing left to do for Burak than to hope that on their way there, a chance for escape would present itself. But the rational part of his mind had already realized that this was a foolish hope and was telling him that they had reached the end of the line, as had Ryoko.

Maybe if he could cause a little diversion, Saira and Glinn would get the hint and risk a breakout. Of course he was well aware that they were going to fight unarmed one against five, but an attack was the last thing the GPs would expect now, so they would have surprise on their side this time. Furthermore, however unfavorable the situation might have been, by now it had become painfully obvious that they wouldn't get out of it by just standing by idle, so it was better to die trying.

Slowly, not trying to conceal the motion, because it wouldn't have been any use anyway, Burak slid his hand under his jacket to access the small dagger that was hidden in the lining.

"What are you doing!? Take your hands out of your jacket so I can see them!" The sharp voice of their commander caused the other officers to stop immediately.

Burak did as he was ordered, careful as to not provoke anyone into action too soon. His hand reappeared holding the small dagger at waist level for all to see.

"Throw away the weapon or I will shoot you down!"

Burak turned around only to find a distance of no more than ten feet separating the commander's blaster and his head. Still, the pirate captain hesitated, they would have no more than this one chance. He only hoped that Glinn and Saira would do something soon.

"So be it." The commander's finger teased the trigger. "Don't think I will feel remorse shooting a..." He was interrupted by plasma detonations and screams from behind.

There was no need for a signal anymore. Glinn and Saira knew instantly that this was the right moment. In a split second Burak had his dagger drawn and threw himself at the GP commander. The man tried to avoid the thrust, but Burak was faster. Before the numb body of the man even hit the ground the pirate captain had already engaged the next officer.

He delivered a powerful punch to the man's guts and, in the same movement, swapped another one, who had been about to fire his weapon, off his feet with a kick. However, somehow the man managed to ram his weapon into Burak's face, before he collapsed completely. The unpleasant taste of blood spread through the pirate captain's mouth, but he managed to convert the pain into anger, which he released at the officer next to him by slamming the weapon out of his hand and finishing him off with the knife.

With this action he had finally earned himself some space and used the time to take in the situation around him. It seemed like Bogly had been the source of the sudden commotion. He had appeared a little further down the corridor behind them and was just pummeling the living daylights out of one of the officers. The unmoving bodies of two others were already lying next to him. In all there were nine GPs left and most fortunately they were located right in the middle of the pirates.

Most of the officers still had not the slightest idea of what had hit them as Saira cut them down with a mini blaster, which she had produced from out of nothing. And the exaggerated battle cries of Glinn only added to their disorder.

"Kyah!" the young man shouted and ducked away under a punch thrown at him, then he avoided another by swiftly dodging to the side.

"Get out of the way!" one of the officers screamed.

He was trying to get a clear shot at one of the pirates with his blaster, but he wasn't able to do so through all the commotion. Of course nobody paid any attention to him, they were too occupied trying to get a hold of the pirates.

"Kyah!" Glinn delivered a powerful kick to the nether region of one of the men who were closing in on him. The man broke to his knees with a surprised gasp but before he fell to the ground like a stone, Glinn managed to snatch away his weapon.

"Watch out Glinn!!"

The young man whirled around and, even before he had finished the spin, fired his weapon at the officer who had just been about to do the same.

"Thanks Saira," Glinn shouted as he turned around to face the pirate, only to find her on the receiving end of a powerful punch.

The distance was too short to block or dodge the strike, so the officer's fist hit her right in the face and she went down. However, the man made the mistake of underestimating his opponent and didn't realize that Saira was still conscious. His eyes widened as he felt his chest being pierced by Saira's blaster. Then he collapsed like he was struck by lightning.

Glinn had watched the whole scene and he was too impressed with Saira's skills as to notice the two men surrounding him. Both of them raised their weapons but only one managed to get a shot in at the young pirate as Bogly silenced the other with a well placed strike.

At the time Glinn noticed the weapon pointed at him it was almost too late. He threw himself to the ground.

"Say your prayers, you bastard!" Bogly screamed as he smashed his fist into the face of the man before he got a chance to get in another shot.

Then he turned around to Glinn. The young man was lying on the ground, motionless.

"Fool," he mumbled and turned around again, in order to finish off the one who had supposedly killed the kid. It was then that he noticed someone else who might need a hand.

Burak had just been about to stab another opponent, but he found himself unable to finish the move as someone grabbed his arm from behind and twisted it painfully. Finding himself unable to turn around and face the new opponent, Burak just kicked at the man blindly. Obviously the man hadn't expected such a move, because he went down with a yelp of pain. However, Burak had no chance to savor his victory.

"Stop that! You've lost," someone told him and he felt the cold steel of a blaster pressed to his forehead.

"Not quite," another voice replied and the next moment the pressure of the blaster was gone.

"You're the ones who've lost," Bogly announced as he kicked the body of the last remaining man whom he had just knocked unconscious.

The lift stopped. All of Tenchi's raging thoughts froze over completely and made space for the final one.

'This is it. All or nothing from here.'

The door opened and revealed a narrow corridor. No GP squad with blasters pointed at him, no raging criminals, none of the other things his stressed brain had managed to come up with during his time in the lift, just an empty corridor.

Tenchi quickly recovered his composure, stepped out of the lift and reached into his pocket. He had to hurry, if the lift doors closed on him now, he might get in serious trouble later. As he finally retrieved the desired item and ducked down to place it in the middle of the lift entrance, he couldn't help but to wonder if it was actually going to work. The small device was one of Glinn's inventions and it was supposed to keep the lift in place for an easy escape after he had completed his mission.

Knowing that he had no time to waste observing the device any further, Tenchi straightened up again and took a closer look at the corridor in front of him. So this was the famous tenth section of the Grand Space Prison, where the Galaxy Police kept their most dangerous criminals. He couldn't help but think that it didn't look that impressive. The basic layout reminded him of the ordinary cell blocks he had learned about at the academy, though there seemed to be a few modifications. The most striking of them being the heavy door on the other end of the corridor, which reminded him of the powerful explosives that Burak had handed out to each member of their group before they had split up. It wasn't time to use them yet though, because the door was tightly sealed with an invisible micro force field, which would efficiently nullify all attacks against it.

No, there were other things to be taken care of first and a quick glance at his watch told him that he had only about three minutes left.

As he carefully approached the sections observation office, suddenly the realization sank in on him that something was not quite right here. The section was supposed to be guarded by at least one officer almost round the clock, but obviously his intrusion hadn't been noticed yet. Not that he was complaining, he barely had the time for another encounter, but it made him feel just a little uneasy.

He reached the door to the small office and without a sound it opened for him. This was a good thing, because that way the security officer, who was obviously absorbed in something that he was watching on one of his screens, didn't notice his entrance. Tenchi couldn't keep a smile from his face at the sight. Things were working out perfectly for him.

Cautious as to not produce any treacherous sound, he maneuvered himself to the side and behind the officer, from where he started closing in on him, his blaster drawn. All the time he couldn't help but notice the female voice that the guardsman was listening to through his speakers. It had a very dangerous edge to it, sending shivers down Tenchi's spine. Probably one of the prisoners. Tenchi now understood why the man in front of him was so oblivious to the world around him. He himself had his difficulties to withstand the mind consuming force that was the voice of the woman.

As he finally reached the chair of the man, Tenchi was beaded in sweat, both from the thin ice he was moving on and the effort to withstand the compelling voice of the woman, even if the meaning of her words didn't register to his mind through the veil of tension it had thrown up.

Not wasting any more time he raised his blaster and, with a mumbled apology, slammed it down on the back of the man's head. The totally unexpected assault made the man slump down in his chair at once.

No longer blocked by the officer's head, Tenchi's look fell upon the screen, which the man had been watching with such a great deal of interest. What he saw made him freeze. For the slightest moment he even forgot that count zero had already gotten dangerously close.

In the cell, portrayed by the screen, there were two people. One was a woman and Tenchi had recognized her instantly, for in a forgotten corner of his mind he had expected that it had been her voice over the speakers all along. Nagi, the ex-bounty hunter and space pirate, who was supposed to be one of his targets, even if he had had other plans.

Now her presence wasn't what surprised him, it was expected to say the least. The other one was who drew his attention. A man of short size with dark hair, a pretty average appearance. Still, there was no doubt, the man in the cell together with Nagi was Commander Trake.

Heavy thoughts were rolling inside of Tenchi's heads. Why would Trake be here? Probably he was interrogating Nagi, but what about? And why was the pirate the one who seemed to have the attention of the commander? This wasn't a normal interrogation. What was she talking about in the first place? The explosion of a giant cruiser? Her, Ryoko and Kagato? He was confused to say the least.

Then his gaze came across another screen and he saw his primary target. At the sight of Ryoko standing in the middle of her cell, staring at the energy barrier in front of her almost as if she was waiting for something, he knew what he had to do again.

One glance at the timer and he knew that he had little less than a minute left. Making a quick decision he stepped around the chair and the fallen guard, to enter into the control panel in front of him the commands, which would anesthetize the occupants of all cells, with the exception of the one with Ryoko and the one with Nagi and Trake. It was a little risky, but so was the whole operation and he wasn't going to pass up this chance of speaking to Trake once more. Maybe this would get him some answers.

Only a few seconds until the lights would go out, taken that the others had succeeded. Once the energy was down, he needed to act quickly, so it wouldn't hurt to be prepared.

With fast steps he left the observation office and approached the door, which sealed the cell block of the tenth section. On his way, he carefully took out the explosives.

For once, he was going to be the one to make quite some entrance.

* * *

It had become quiet in the large hallway after the battle had ended. The only indication that there had been a fight at all were the bodies of the GPs, which were lying scattered throughout the corridor.

Burak quickly checked the situation. Most of the officers had lost their lives in the little encounter. He wasn't a man who enjoyed killing, but they had been left no choice.

The pirate captain's gaze ventured over the unmoving bodies on the ground. He counted twelve, so some must have gotten away to call for reinforcements. Meaning, they didn't have any more time to lose. It almost seemed impossible to take out the generator in time by now anyway. But of course he wasn't going to give up that easily.

Wearing a determined expression, he turned around to face his crew. Bogly was sitting on the ground, his back leaned to the wall. His clothes were soaked with blood and Burak feared that for the most part it wasn't that of the GPs.

Glinn, who had been lucky to avoid the deadly shot and recovered rather quickly, was leaning causally against the wall and watched Saira taking care of a nasty wound Bogly had received to his shoulder.

"It's very serious, Bogly," Saira stated while she tried to stop the bleeding somehow.

"It's only a scratch," he replied, but his breath was labored.

Burak exchanged a short look with Saira and the woman shook her head. "We have to get him back to the Ashrow as fast as possible."

Burak nodded slowly. "Okay, you go back with him, Saira. But be careful, by now they know for sure that we're here."

"You hurry with the generator and they will have other things on their minds than tracking us down." Saira smiled. "Come on, Bogly. You've done enough for today."

The greasy man got up without complaining, but before he followed Saira he spoke to his captain one last time.

"Remember one thing Burak, ... I haven't risked my life only to give you a chance to fail again, so do it right this time."

"I'm well aware of the importance of our success and we haven't gotten that far only to be stopped short of our goal," Burak responded seriously. "And now we have to hurry. Meet you all on the Ashrow."

These words spoken, Burak and Glinn sprinted down the corridor until they were out of eyesight. Meanwhile Saira and Bogly were wandering off into the opposite direction. Since their presence wasn't a secret anymore anyway, they were going to take the shortest way directly through the main corridor.

"Everything all right?"

Much like the last time Saira had asked, Bogly only answered with a barely audible growl of agreement.

"I guess we will need another ten minutes to reach the Ashrow," the blonde woman stated in a worried tone.

She knew that this was a very optimistic calculation based upon the assumption that they would be able to keep up their current speed and wouldn't encounter any GPs.

Bogly remained silent. The bleeding of the wound had receded a little, but the pain had only gotten worse. In fact, despite his former thoughts, right now he really didn't mind being brought back to the Ashrow. He felt exhausted and disoriented and he knew that he would have been no use to the others in this condition.

Suddenly Saira drew her blaster and fired. Before Bogly even had a chance to react the body of an officer, who had just rounded a corner in front of them, dropped to the ground.

"I just hope he was alone," Saira said, urging Bogly to go even faster.

Luckily, the corridor remained silent as they continued on their way back to the pirate vessel.

--

"Hey Burak! What's with the sour face? Once we're there I will be done in no more than three minutes, so we're not out of time yet," Glinn announced smiling broadly at his captain. "We're going to make it."

Burak gave him a serious look. By now Glinn's incredibly overconfident behavior really got on his nerves. How was it that he was unable to judge the severity of the situation at least once? Splitting up like this hadn't been part of the plan at all. Saira and Bogly were totally on their own now. If they had only remained unnoticed, Burak would have had no doubt that the two would have been able to safely return to the Ashrow. But they had been discovered and even caused a major commotion. Now it was just as likely that Saira and Bogly would run straight into another squad of GPs. In the worst case the Ashrow might have already been conquered.

"Here we are," Glinn stated, startling the captain out of his thoughts.

Both man stopped in front of a large metal door and while Burak turned his back to the entrance and eyed the corridor nervously, Glinn instantly went to the control panel and got to work cracking the security code for the door.

"Wouldn't it have been easier to scout the code out somewhere?" Burak asked as the young man gave a silent curse.

"Of course," Glinn replied and at the same time started to work on the panel with some makeshift tool. "But like all security codes for the GSP this one is changed on a daily basis. It doesn't matter though. I'm almost through with it... see?" There was a short sound of affirmation and the heavy door slid open with a faint hiss.

His blaster drawn Burak had positioned himself opposite of Glinn, so they would cover both sides of the entrance. Except from a low humming there was absolutely no sound coming from inside. The pirate leader gave his companion a short nod and they whirled around to face the entrance simultaneously.

Just a little surprised, Burak lowered his weapon. The room was empty.

"That's nice. For a moment I almost thought they would be waiting for us in here," Glinn commented with obvious joy and quickly stepped through the door.

However, for Burak it was almost a little too quiet. Their intention must have been quite obvious to the GP, so he had expected the generator to be guarded. Not that he was complaining though. They would hardly have had the time for another fire fight.

"Stay alert," he warned Glinn as he carefully entered the room himself.

It was of an oval shape and almost smaller than even the bridge of the Ashrow. Somehow Burak had thought to find a huge hall with an enormous generator core right in the center, but instead he found himself in a small chamber, surrounded by the flashing lights of the various control elements that were scattered throughout the entire room.

"Isn't it great?" Glinn asked with excitement, running from one interface to the next, typing in what seemed like random commands. "It will be easy to upload the virus like this." He stopped in front of one of the control panels and manually started the data transfer by inserting a small disk in the interface. "Hope this works," he said with a grin and a wink at his captain and let his fingers fly over the controls.

"Where's the generator," Burak asked, trying his best ignore Glinn's silly behavior.

"Over there." The young man pointed to his right.

Burak didn't see anything in that direction, but he thought better of it and didn't ask again. Probably the energy core wasn't an independent unit like he had originally thought, so he just placed the explosive on the wall. After he was finished, he looked up their time only to find that they had no more than a minute left.

"Hurry up already," he told his man impatiently.

"Give me ten more seconds." By now Glinn was typing like possessed. "This little fiend will invade the energy distribution system by faking perfect inactivity. But once the generator goes down... woosh... it will be activated by the energy feedback and show what it's made of. It's going to prevent the other generators to feed more energy to some vital systems immediately, thus keeping restrictive force fields and magnetic seals down for at least a couple of minutes in the section ten... Okay, I'm done. Now all we need to do is take out the generator within the next 30 seconds, or the program might be spotted by the internal security."

"All right, let's blow the whole thing up and go home."

Without further hesitation Burak activated the timer, setting it to 20 seconds.

"Better get out of here... oh crap!"

Turning around to the exit, Glinn had just noticed the five officers taking position next to it. Before either him or Burak were able to react, the door closed in front of them.

"Shit! Can you open it up again," Burak shouted.

"Not in time," he was answered.

The pirate captain's thoughts were racing. Once activated, there was no way to stop the countdown and the explosion would be strong enough to obliterate the room completely. In case they didn't find a way out of there in the next 10 seconds they were going to be blown to pieces.

"That's it! The ventilation system!" Glinn shouted all of a sudden and rushed over to one of the control panels.

A very nasty sound accompanied each second passed on the small display of the explosive, indicating that they had less than five seconds left.

Not seeing any effect of whatever Glinn was doing, Burak finally decided to act.

"Take cover!" he shouted and tore the young man to the ground with him.

The countdown reached zero and the explosion occurred.

* * *

"As you might have expected, the objective of the job Ryoko told us about was to acquire a living seedling for a Juraian space tree. Our first official operation," Nagi concluded her extraordinary tale.

She had watched Trake closely while she had been speaking, but the commanders features might as well have been carved out of rock. Not often had she met people, who had the ability to compose themselves like this and certainly those people hadn't been GP. Maybe it was true and he really had been the one who captured Ryoko after all.

Even now, that Nagi had finished her story, Trake stood unmoving, arms crossed, casually leaning against the wall. Still stone faced, still not about to speak a word.

By now she really wondered what he needed the information for and she had long since decided that she wasn't going to let him leave before she had gotten some answers. If necessary she would just force them out of him.

From the very beginning of the unusual interrogation, the pirate's and the commander's gazes had been locked into a soundless duel. His mask of calmness held her icy glare, as it tried to burn into his soul.

Finally, after another minute had passed in silence, Trake's lips ever so slowly pulled up into an empty smile.

"Fascinating," he breathed in faked awe. "I had no idea that... what!?" The commander's sentence had been cut short by a sudden strong vibration and the lights going out completely from one instant to the next.

Nagi was surprised at the unexpected development as well, but she immediately realized that it might be the chance she had been waiting for all the time. She couldn't see a thing, but her memory of the cells outline and their positions, as well as Trake's agitated breathing were more than enough for her to relocate the commander's position.

With no more than three fast steps she left her bed and approached her interrogator, who was obviously trying to retreat out of the cell. She jerked him around by the shoulder and slammed her elbow into his face forcefully, wiping out his consciousness most efficiently. Then she quickly stepped over his fallen body and moved for the exit of the cell herself.

Once outside in the corridor, she took notice of the stillness. An energy failure like this should have caused an uproar among the prisoners, but there was absolutely no sound in the dark corridor and she could feel no movement next to her. There was something going on here and she had yet to decide whether it was good or bad.

The light came back on in a flash much like it had been listening to her thoughts and was trying to help her decision. Another thing that added to the strangeness of the situation was that the light may have come back on, but the cells' energy barriers stayed down for good.

Then her look fell down the length of the corridor and she saw what she should have expected, but still enraged her beyond coherent thoughts. Only one other prisoner had used the chance to leave her cell. The one person that had become the target for all her hatred over the past two years was now standing right in front of her.

"Ryoko," she hissed, drawing the attention of the cyan haired woman just before she launched herself at who had once again become her personal nemesis.

It turned out that for Ryoko such an encounter was way more unexpected, as she was too stunned at Nagi's sudden appearance to avoid her attack. The ex-bounty hunter landed a solid kick to the side of the pirate's head, sending her stumbling to the wall painfully.

By then, primal fury had completely taken over Nagi's mind and she let out a victorious roar before she advanced on the dazed pirate.

Discarding any caution, she threw a powerful punch directly at Ryoko's face, but much to her dismay, the pirate had already recovered enough to block it, albeit weakly. Nagi growled and attacked again, mustering up even more of her considerable power, but with the same effect. Then Ryoko's fist connected with her abdomen and forced the air out of her lungs. She stumbled back a few steps, clutching at her stomach in pain as she tried to withstand the urge to throw up.

It took her several seconds to recover, but Ryoko didn't follow up with another attack as she had the chance.

As Nagi finally raised her head again, her rational thoughts were able to fight back the rage enough to give her a accurate analysis of the situation. This wasn't the chance of escape and revenge she had been waiting for, it was a nightmare. The cell block was sealed off and she was trapped in this corridor together with her worst enemy. Moreover, without her equipment she didn't stand a chance against Ryoko. The advantage of her initial surprise had worn off rather quickly and once the battle continued she was going to be beaten up very badly.

However, as she met Ryoko's wicked grin, she came close to forgetting herself again and almost launched another lethal, but nonetheless futile attack.

"Is that the way to greet an old partner?" Ryoko said mockingly, while she massaged the side of her head for emphasis.

"Shut up and just go to hell!" Nagi snarled back, her eyes fixing the pirate in front of her with a glare that would have consumed a weak minded person on the spot.

"Why not try and send me?" At these words Ryoko produced an expression so bright and mischievous, it could only be compared with that of a child who just had an idea of how to play a cruel joke on someone. "Or am I too much of a match for you?" she added, finding delight in Nagi's misery.

It was extremely straining for the former bounty hunter to keep her composure at Ryoko's provocations, but eventually she managed to remain calm, like she had learned through countless years of experience.

"You may hold an advantage over me right now, but you will be mine once we meet the next time."

Now this would have sounded like an empty threat, had not the door of the cell block blown up the next instant.

While Ryoko was stunned in surprise - exploding doors were not exactly what you expected in a high security section of a GP prison after all - Nagi reacted as quickly as ever. She whirled around and vanished into the smoke of the explosion before Ryoko even managed as much as to blink.

Actually, at the moment the cyan haired pirate was more concerned about what might have caused the detonation than Nagi's escape. She strained her eyes and as the smoke was finally clearing, she was able to detect a human outline in the place where the door had once been. The figure approached further and then, coughing just a little, stepped out of the last remains of defiled air which hadn't been absorbed into the ventilation system yet.

Ryoko gasped. The expression of utter shock and surprise, her face had adopted instantly at the sight of the young man didn't do as much as to hint on her true feelings.

His loose garbs were stained by the explosion and the smoke, but Ryoko still recognized the unofficial dress code of a pirate. This, in combination with the dark hair and the sincere chocolate eyes, made Ryoko doubt her sanity.

'It can't be him,' the logical part of her mind argued. 'How could he be here? Why should he come here?' it coursed through her head as she kept staring at the apparition in front of her, expecting it to dissolve like the illusion it was any moment.

'My, he looks handsome.' She had no idea which part of her mind that one had come from.

Tenchi, meanwhile, wasn't much better off than her. He had mustered up all his confidence and stepped into the cell block of the tenth section, determined to face whatever might await him there.

His confidence had stayed with him for about ten seconds before it had left him completely. He had thought that by now he was prepared to face Ryoko and the consequences of his participation in the rescue operation, but he had been wrong. Much like the first time they had met, half of his mind was wiped clean, leaving his body paralyzed. Of course the expression she wore wasn't helping things either. Not even back then, down in the Juraian sanctuary had he seen a look of such genuine surprise on the pirate. Tenchi instinctively knew that he was one of the few people to ever see her like this.

'She looks so natural.'

Before he knew what he was doing, Tenchi had overcome his paralysis and made a step towards the pirate, who was still staring at him like he was a ghost. As the next step didn't bring any change to her expression either, some of Tenchi's confidence returned.

Just as he started to feel comfortable enough to speak, he caught a quick movement in the corner of his eye. He didn't even have a chance to turn his head at the sudden disturbance, as he felt the cold steel of a blaster just above his left ear.

"If one of you dares to move, he's dead," a familiar deep voice stated.

Tenchi froze. How could he have been so thoughtless to forget about Trake? A mistake which he would pay for with his life. Obviously the commander wasn't as clever as Tenchi had first thought, otherwise he would know better than to think he could threaten Ryoko with his life. At least their mission would be a success after all, even if he wouldn't live to see it. Ryoko was free and there was absolutely no way Trake could stand up against her.

Carefully, not wanting to provoke the commander, Tenchi observed Ryoko, trying to somehow prepare himself for the unavoidable. In only a couple of seconds her expression changed from surprise to complete shock, then confusion and finally, much like Tenchi had expected, anger.

"Who are you?" she snarled at Trake, but didn't attack.

'What's wrong with her? Why is she hesitating?' Tenchi thought, unable to place her behavior.

"A very good question. I'm Commander Trake of the Galaxy Police cruiser Hirazenty and captor of two of the most dangerous space pirates in history." Trake explained with a wide grin on his face, despite the situation.

"The Hirazenty?" Ryoko mumbled with renewed surprise.

By then, Tenchi was totally confused.

"What are you talking about?" he mouthed one of his many questions.

Trake shook his head in disapproval. "Just how naive can you be, Tenchi?" he asked with a sigh. "I was the one who captured the infamous space pirates Nagi and Ryoko. Unfortunately, Nagi managed to escape, but I'm going to be the one to prevent the escape of Ryoko and arrest the traitor Tenchi Masaki."

Ryoko's eyes flared up with hatred at his words and for a second Trake feared that he might have gone too far.

"So, you were the one!" the cyan haired pirate spat out, apparently ready to tear the commander into pieces.

"I thought you believed my story and what do you mean, you captured Nagi?" Trake's words and Ryoko's reaction had only served to puzzle Tenchi even more.

"He was the one who tricked you all along. He tricked us both. It was him, who conspired against you two years ago and it was him, who cowardly shot me from the shadows as I met up with a client for the book!" Ryoko shouted at Tenchi, almost making him flinch, hadn't it been for the blaster pointing at his head.

Of course, Tenchi was too shocked at the revelation thrown into his face to instantly grasp all the implications.

"If you knew the truth all along, why did you go through the trouble of seeking me out and asking me for my story?" he asked, still clinging to the hope that he had somehow misunderstood what had been said, despite the blaster that spoke an obvious language.

"I'm a man who knows about the true value of information, Tenchi. However, I have to admit that back then, even I had no idea that I would be able to put the information you gave me to use like this. I didn't expect you to pull such a stunt. Very impressive." He was silent for a moment and as he finally spoke up again, his voice was as cold as ice. "Unfortunately this is the end of your little operation."

Trake motioned for Ryoko with his free hand, keeping his attention divided between both, her and Tenchi.

"Go back to your cell and don't even think as much as a wrong thought or he is history!"

Tenchi could only watch in awe as the anger displayed by Ryoko increased a tenfold, but she still didn't make a move to attack Trake, which would have meant signing his death sentence. Instead she stepped backwards very slowly. The internal struggle, which accompanied this action was plainly visible on her face.

"Very good. Keep this up and nobody is going to get hurt," Trake commented in an almost mocking tone.

"What are you doing? If you return to that cell, they will turn you in to Jurai!" Tenchi suddenly shouted, a little surprised at his own words.

Instead of taking this chance to live, he was throwing it away willingly, the logical part of his mind reasoned. But as always there was another part of his mind, the one which he was trying to figure out for years now with no success and it told him that he couldn't let everything be in vain.

Ryoko visibly flinched at his words, yet she kept going, never taking her burning gaze off Trake.

"Shut up!" Trake commanded, seeing that Tenchi's revelation had had some effect on Ryoko.

"They are going to torture you to death, damn it!!" An audible edge of desperation had entered Tenchi's voice.

"I said shut up!" Trake pressed the blaster even harder to Tenchi's head to emphasize his words.

However, the pain and the commanders words were lost on Tenchi as he observed Ryoko's internal struggle being amplified by his own words. For a terrifying beautiful second, he both hoped and feared that everything had not been in vain. But eventually one of the cyan haired pirate's struggling feelings won out and she further retreated towards her former cell.

Seeing this and finally realizing that all of his efforts were going to be for nothing, a barrier inside of Tenchi's mind shattered. Once again, the mysterious power that he sought to understand, started to course through his veins, causing his mind to cloud over and inflicting pain beyond comparison to his body. He wasn't capable of thinking anymore. Only one objective kept repeating itself over and over through the haze of pain like a mental command. He couldn't let Ryoko return to that cell. He couldn't let her die.

Trake suddenly became very uncomfortable as Tenchi broke in a sweat out of nothing and his body started shaking. His eyes widened as the young man in front of him started to emit a pale glow.

"Whatever you're doing, stop it!" he shouted.

Unfortunately, his hands were tied. If he shot Tenchi now, he was a dead man. Taking the young man as his trump card had been a risky gamble and what had just seemed like a perfect idea started to turn against him now.

Ryoko, meanwhile, was mentally cheering for Tenchi. She remembered the ever intensifying light he was emitting all too well. If something similar to two years ago was going to happen, there was a good chance that the tides were going to turn to her favor.

The light became almost blinding and the commander and the pirate had to shield their eyes against it. Then there was a blood curdling scream from Tenchi and the next instant the light was back to normal.

Much to his infinite terror, Trake quickly noticed that Tenchi was gone. He looked around frantically, only to spot the boy breathing heavily right next to Ryoko. He jerked his blaster around, but he was too late. Ryoko appeared in front of him and kicked the weapon out of his hand before he even had a chance to react.

The commander was conscious enough not to try and go after the useless weapon. Instead he immediately shot a punch at the pirate with his other hand. The motion was almost too fast for the eye to follow, but it was still ridiculously slow to Ryoko. With a move that really was invisible for Trake's eyes, she caught his fist in one hand before it came even close to her body.

Trake frowned as he realized that he wasn't able to get his hand free. It was then that he remembered his other hand, which was just a little numb from Ryoko's kick. He used it to deliver a powerful punch to the pirate's mid section, grinning as she didn't make a move to evade or block the attack. But his grin was soon replaced by an expression of pain and shock. It was almost as if his fist had hit solid steel. His punch hadn't even make her flinch.

Ever so slowly, the corners of Ryoko's mouth moved up to form a smile, then a grin. All the while Trake felt the pressure on his hand increasing. Following a similar pattern as the pirate's expression, it quickly went from discomfort to pain and finally to pure agony. Trake groaned, his other hand now unconsciously trying to pry open Ryoko's unyielding grasp, but to no avail.

As he finally heard his bones cracking, Trake wasn't able to support himself anymore and he broke to his knees.

Seeing that there wasn't any way to increase the pain of her victim like this anymore, Ryoko flicked her wrist, efficiently breaking Trake's, before letting him go. The commander screamed and fell to the side, rolling onto his devastated hand in agony.

"You know, a rat like you doesn't deserve the quick death I'm going to give you," Ryoko stated matter of factly as she formed a ball of energy in her right hand. "I certainly hope that you will suffer in hell for eternity!"

"No, stop!"

Ryoko hesitated at the sudden sound of Tenchi's voice behind her.

"Please, don't kill him," Tenchi asked as he arrived at her side, still sweating and breathing heavily.

"You can't be serious! You're telling me to let him live after all he has done?!"

"Yes, there were enough lives lost already."

"But he'll get back at us for sure!" Ryoko shouted her point.

"We won't be any better off if you kill him here either," Tenchi answered calmly.

Then he did something that surprised himself. He gently took a hold of Ryoko's arm with one hand and forced it down, so Trake would no longer be the focus of her attack.

An electrical feeling rushed through the cyan haired pirate at the unexpected touch, causing her resistance to melt away completely. She ceased the energy in her hand and turned to face Tenchi.

"Okay, it wouldn't have been any satisfaction to kill him anyway. But don't come crying back to me later if he causes you any trouble."

She teasingly waved her finger at Tenchi, who sighed in return. The moment of tension had passed. That was until he realized his hand still resting on Ryoko's arm. His eyes growing wide he almost jerked it away, to use it for scratching the back of his neck.

"Uhm... we better get out of here now, I guess," he offered lamely.

"Right."

Ryoko dismissed the opportunity of teasing Tenchi. They really needed to get going and if things were like they appeared to be, there would be plenty of possibility to tease Tenchi later.

They stepped past the fallen commander, who was still half consciously whimpering to himself on the ground, and approached the hole that had once been the door sealing off the cell block.

Tenchi had made only a couple of steps, as he heard a strange sound behind him. He turned, just in time to see Trake throwing a small knife at him with his good hand. As the small object came flying at him, Tenchi's mind was fast enough to realize that his body wouldn't be fast enough to dodge before he died.

There was a snapping sound and Tenchi found himself staring at a hand, holding the knife directly in front of his face. He followed the arm to find Ryoko, showing an expression, so cold, it almost made him stumble away from her. Too late he grasped the meaning of this all.

Ryoko swung her arm back with the knife and threw it at Trake with all her might. There was a short buzz, followed by an ugly ripping sound and then Tenchi saw the commander, who was supporting himself with one hand, looking down at the hole in his chest in sheer disbelief, before he finally collapsed to the ground for the last time.

"No!! Why did you have to kill him!?" Tenchi shouted, whirling around at Ryoko.

"Because he tried to stab you in the back after I showed him mercy," Ryoko stated, still wearing the icy expression.

"That's no reason to kill him!" Tenchi accused.

"It is. And now we need to get going."

"But..."

"Do you want me to leave you here?"

Tenchi shook his head reluctantly.

"So let's go then."

Like she had done the last time they needed to escape together, Ryoko grabbed Tenchi's arm and dragged him off with her.

As they approached the closed lift door - Nagi had obviously utilized Glinn's device to make her own escape - an unpleasant feeling rose up from the depths of Tenchi's guts.

"Uhm... aren't we going to slow down?" he asked nervously, as Ryoko showed no sign of doing just that.

"No."

Tenchi had no time to protest as they phased right through the door and into the small elevator shaft. The only thing he could do as Ryoko dragged him down the shaft at top speed was to scream his lungs out.

* * *

Again and again the entire corridor was shaken by multiple explosions from inside the generator room. Anxiety spread among the officers, who were having troubles to remain on their feet throughout the massive tremors. They all knew that these explosions meant no good.

"Sir, with all due respect, why haven't we tried to stop them?" One of them voiced his feelings in a question, directed at the tallest man of the group.

"We might have been able to prevent the worst," another one dared to add.

The tall man just gave them all a dark glance. "I'm not going to risk any more lives. A generator can always be replaced, but a dead officer can't be brought back." All of a sudden a smile of malicious amusement appeared on his face. "And besides, these fools have thrown away their lives for nothing anyway. I don't know what got them the idea that it would be that easy to disrupt the energy supply of the Grand Space Prison. By now the other generators have probably already taken over."

"But we are five and they were just two. Taking them out would have been no problem." The officer who had first spoken still wasn't quite satisfied with the explanation his superior had given.

"You seem to forget who we are dealing with here. These are not just some pirates who happened to pass by and thought it would be a good opportunity to free a few prisoners. This is Burak and his gang."

He said this as if it would explain everything, but judging from the puzzled faces of the other officers, none of them knew what he was talking about.

"Ah hell, let's just say these two guys are extremely dangerous and they even managed to take out an entire squad on the way here."

At that all the men exchanged surprised and skeptical looks.

"Okay, it seems to have calmed down in there and the smoke should be cleared off by now. Let's take a look at the damage."

Everyone got into position in front of the door, even though they knew that it was absolutely impossible that anyone or anything had survived such explosions. The tall man got over to the control panel and typed in the opening code. There was a short sound of confirmation and the door slid open.

It hadn't even opened half the way as they noticed that something was amiss. Thick black smoke emerged from the room and forced the officers to close their eyes in order to not get temporarily blinded.

"Get away from the door!!" the chief of the group shouted, before he broke into a coughing fit from the smoke.

The officer next to the door had been about to follow the order as he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his neck and sunk to the ground unconscious.

"Watch out, they're still...," another one shouted but was silenced immediately as well.

The chief fired his weapon, but he couldn't make out anything through the smoke. Suddenly there was a motion in front of him. He raised his blaster, but wasn't fast enough. Two figures appeared directly in front of him and the weapon was kicked out of his hand. He tried to get a hold of one of the attackers, but failed.

Burak and Glinn ran. It was the only thing left to do for them. Rushing down the main corridor, Burak only hoped that they would gain enough lead to reach the ship. If it was still there and they weren't intercepted, that was. Hopefully Landsville's team had finished their task as well by now, because they wouldn't get the chance to wait for them.

Glinn started to cough heavily and had to slow down a little. "By now...," he coughed. "I don't know anymore if it was such a good idea to absorb the explosion into the ventilation system after all."

"It was. Otherwise they would be busy sweeping up our ashes right now. It would be a shame if we survived this all for nothing, so keep going," Burak said and sped up again.

Glinn sighed and tried his best to follow him.

They ran like they were trying to loose the devil himself. A side branch to the right came into view and Burak motioned to take this way. Of course he hadn't memorized the chart of this section completely, but he knew that the Ashrow had to be somewhere down this direction.

They took the turn to the right and suddenly stood face to face with two GPs. Luckily, the two men were just as surprised at the unexpected encounter as the pirates, if not more.

Burak drew his weapon and fired a shot above their heads. Instinctively they both took cover and the pirates used the chance to turn around and get away instantly. They couldn't risk another fire fight now. Returning to the main corridor, Burak fired two more shots into the passage. Of course he didn't hit anything, but he bought them a second more time.

"We better hurry." Glinn motioned backwards with his head, towards the three GPs who had just appeared on the other end of the corridor.

Burak gave him a curt nod and they continued their hasty escape.

Glinn turned to the right at the next branch, since it was probably the last chance to reach the Ashrow without having to go through with a major detour.

"Do you think there will be a reception committee?" Glinn asked, a dark smile on his face.

"Pray that there won't," Burak answered seriously.

A squad or more GPs waiting for them in front of the Ashrow was the last thing they needed now, but unfortunately it was not that unlikely.

Burak estimated that it would take them at least two more minutes to reach the Ashrow. However, as they changed into yet another passage at the next intersection they spotted two figures further down the pathway.

"Shit," Glinn cursed and was about to turn around, but Burak stopped him.

"Come on," he told him, not slowing down in his pace.

The young man didn't think of this as such a good idea, but he complied nevertheless. He only hoped that Burak knew what he was doing and that the two officers wouldn't notice them too soon.

Strangely, the distance between them didn't decrease as rapidly as he had expected. Obviously these GP weren't just taking a walk either. They were running, namely into the same direction as the two of them.

"Bogly and Saira!" Glinn's surprise was genuine. "Seems they haven't come that far yet."

Burak growled. He had hoped and expected that the two of them had meanwhile reached the ship. There must have been trouble.

"Let's give them a hand." Burak fastened his pace once more, in order to reach their two fellow pirates.

Saira must have noticed her pursuers and their identity as well because she wasn't surprised in the slightest as they finally closed up to her and Bogly.

"What happened," she asked, pointing at Burak's face.

"We needed to take cover in a very smoky room," he explained shortly.

"They had us trapped in the generator room as it was about to explode but I..." Glinn was about to add the whole story, but was interrupted harshly by Burak.

"Stop chattering. At least five GPs are hot on our heels. We need to get going."

As if triggered by the statement, a single plasma bolt hit the wall right next to them.

"Alright, but..." Saira turned to look at Bogly with a worried expression.

The greasy man had become totally pale and seemed to be oblivious to the world around him by now.

"We will take him."

No more than a second later, Glinn and Burak had taken Bogly between them and the small group was heading into the direction of the ship again. Saira was directly behind them, using her weapon to fire down the corridor behind them over and over in order to keep their pursuers at bay.

Finally, after what had seemed like hours to Burak, they reached the spot where the Ashrow had penetrated the outer hull of the GSP. The pirate captain sighed in relief. The ship was still in the same place they had left it, the only change were the three man in GP uniforms that were lying on the ground in front of the ship.

"What's happened here," Glinn asked, but nobody answered.

Saira passed them by and approached the hatch. She knocked on the metal three times and it opened instantly, so Burak and Glinn could get Bogly inside without having to wait.

Another shot passed by not too far behind them and Saira quickly returned fire before she entered the ship as well.

"Let's get out of here," Burak said upon entering the bridge and setting Bogly down carefully.

Then his gaze met the current bridge crew and he noticed that there were only two of them. Nana and the guy they had left behind to guard the ship. Strangely Burak always had difficulties remembering his name.

"Where's Landsville?" Burak urged.

"... and Tenchi?" Saira added, entering behind him.

"We had to split up because of these GP bastards," Nana explained. "I've returned only a minute ago myself. The three outside are the ones who tried to follow me."

"Damn!" the captain cursed and ran back past Saira into the cargo bay.

"Burak! Don't be stupid!" Glinn shouted after him, but it was too late already.

Burak rushed outside. The GP had almost reached the Ashrow in the meantime. The pirate captain opened fire without hesitation. He didn't have a plan, but he knew that he wasn't going to leave without Landsville.

One of the officers dared to move out of his cover, only to be hit by a well placed shot from Burak's blaster. The fire was returned by another one, but the pirate retreated into his cover in time, so the plasma bolt passed by without doing any harm.

Then suddenly the GPs were taken under fire from the other direction. Burak turned around and saw a single person running down the corridor towards his location.

"Landsville!"

Another bolt missed the tall man only by the span of a finger and forced him to take cover behind the wall, which had been warped inwards by the ship's impact.

"Get in already! I will give you cover!" Burak shouted and gave up the safety of the deformed wall he had been hiding behind.

He fired his weapon without pause. If he gave those guys only the slightest chance to return the fire now, they would probably hit either him or Landsville over the short distance.

"Let's get going." Landsville was suddenly right beside him.

"Where's Tenchi? And Ryoko?" Burak asked, still firing like possessed, but slowly retreating back into cover.

"They are going to make their own escape," Landsville stated mysteriously.

"But..."

A bolt of plasma passed them and hit the inner hull of the Ashrow through the hatch.

"Tenchi has made his decision and I don't think this is the right time to discuss it," Landsville said calmly and entered the ship hurriedly.

"Maybe you're right," Burak mumbled to himself, fired one last time and finally followed his friend.

As the hatch closed, the GPs approached the ship and opened fire with all they had. But their hand blasters didn't have any effect on the armored hull of the pirate ship. Finally they had to cease their fire and couldn't do anything but watch the Ashrow escape.

* * *

Chapter notes:

This chapter was written by my and my sister to equal parts. The opening battle was done by my sister and from there she kept on writing the scenes for Burak's team. I wrote the scene with Ryoko in the beginning and the scenes for Tenchi's team and later Tenchi alone up to the final showdown. The very last scene with the pirates was written by my sister as well.

A review, be it nice or critical, is always appreciated.

As always Geor-sama helped me out on this one.

See you in the next chapter.


	11. Risky Confrontation

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of their original creators and all those affiliated with them. I have neither created them, nor do I own them. Any new characters as well as the events within this story are created by me and my sister, so they are our property. This story is written for fun and as an homage to the world of Tenchi.

* * *

Chapter 10 - Risky Confrontation

"Can you go any slower? At this speed we won't reach the hangar before next year," the squad commander shouted back over his shoulder at the six men following him.

He was going to keep trying to urge them to run faster, but his communicator thwarted his plans with a series of low bleeps. Without doing so much as to slow down his step, he grabbed the device from his belt and activated it.

"This is squad commander Twang," he stated mechanically.

"Security control here. Have you reached hangar three yet, commander?" a voice asked from the speaker, sounding just a little anxious.

"No, but we are almost there. What is it, security control?"

"We have reason to assume that one or more of the prisoners from section ten are headed for hangar three right now..."

"That's not good news at all," Twang interrupted.

"Listen commander. We need you to keep those criminals occupied until reinforcements arrive and we need those ships in space as fast as possible. We are having pirate activity out there."

"Understood," Twang confirmed just as the hangar doors came into sight.

"And one more thing, commander. There is a good chance that you will encounter the space pirate Ryoko. Preventing her escape has topmost priority. We are counting on you. Security control out."

Twang deactivated the communicator and put it back into position on his belt. He decided that it would be no use to push the men anymore now, since they had almost reached their destination anyway and if those information were reliable they would need all their power soon enough.

However, Twang did not slow down in the least until he finally reached the gate. His men arrived right behind him and they had to wait only a second for the doorway to slide open wide enough for them to slip through.

Once inside, Twang immediately went over to the next control panel, locking the entrance behind them. Having done this, he finally turned around to face the men, who were already awaiting his instructions.

First he addressed the three pilots, whom he had been ordered to escort to the hangar. They were easily discernable from the other three by their considerably more confined weaponry.

"What are you waiting for! I want those ships out of here as fast as possible! Get going already!"

Consciously ignoring the commander's harsh address, the three pilots nodded simultaneously and hurried off towards the two mighty patrol ships which occupied the rather huge hangar.

"Okay, now listen," Twang continued, now addressing the three heavily armed men. "Apparently some of the level ten criminals have escaped and are headed here at the moment."

Although they tried to hide it, the commander knew his men well enough to notice the anxiety his revelation caused them. He couldn't blame them for it. After all he didn't feel any different.

"Take positions in front of the door!"

Like they had only waited for the order, the three officers instantly unholstered the plasma rifles, they were carrying on their backs, removed the safety and took positions in a semi circle around the gate. Pleased with their quick reaction the commander followed their example.

"Remember, who- or whatever is going to come through this door is going to be extremely dangerous. It is possible that we will be unable to stop them on our own, so we will need to buy enough time for the reinforcements to arrive," Twang explained the situation once more.

"Yes, sir!" the three officers shouted as one, making their commander hope for the best.

As endless seconds passed, Twang started to take into consideration an entirely new possibility. Of course he knew that this was probably no more than wishful thinking, but maybe the reinforcements would arrive first. Or maybe the escapees had decided to take a different route. Just maybe his man wouldn't have to fight a battle, they had no chance of winning.

The commanders hopes were routed, however, as the security mechanisms of the hangar door started shorting out all of a sudden. Unrestrained electricity crackled all over the gateway and disabled one circuit after another. Then it became death quiet again. It was almost possible to smell the tension of the officers.

"Be prepared!" Twang announced, insuring himself with a nervous side-glance that his men were still in positions.

Just as the tension became unbearable, two flashes of red, too fast for the eye to follow, penetrated the door. Twang realized their meaning almost instantly.

"Watch out!" he shouted, as a small portion of the gate was forcefully dislocated from its original position and hurled inwards. Luckily none of the men had been standing in the path of the heavy piece of metal.

Twang averted his eyes to the gateway and his worst fears were proved with what he was seeing. Standing there, in the newly created opening which was just large enough for an average human to fit through, was the space pirate Ryoko. A red energy dagger in each hand, she grinned wickedly at the men in front of her.

"Hi guys!"

"Fire!" Twang shouted, acting on his own order immediately together with the rest of his men.

The powerful blasts of the plasma rifles caused even more of the door to collapse, but they never hit their intended target. Twang's men were perplexed to find the spot, which had just been occupied by the pirate suddenly vacant.

"Looking for something?" they heard a teasing voice from behind.

As one the four men whirled around and found the pirate standing dangerously close to them. They were just about to open fire once more, but they were interrupted by a noise from behind again. This time it was a sudden battle cry, which caught their attention.

The man, who was unfortunate enough to stand closest to the hangar door, turned again, prepared to use his weapon against the new intruder, but it was already too late. He had just completed his turn and was about to squeeze the trigger as the pirate reached him and slammed his own weapon into the side of his head forcefully. With a low grunt the officer sank to the ground.

Although the surprise attack had worked out quite well, Tenchi still found himself faced by one more officer and, maybe more important, by his rifle. There was only one reason that he was still alive and that was that he had his own weapon pointed at the man in return.

By then, Tenchi realized that acting in the heat of the moment might have gotten him exactly into the situation he had been trying to avoid. He couldn't shoot the man. In those eyes, which held only contempt and a slight hint of fear, however, there was no such hesitation. Just by looking into those eyes, Tenchi knew that if he relented even as much as to show uncertainty, this man would shoot him.

Out of the corner of his eyes and over the wide shoulders of his adversary, he could observe Ryoko successfully dispatching one of the remaining two officers. Most fortunately without killing him. However, the sound of the voice of the man in front of him recovered his full attention.

"I will gladly give my life to bring you to justice, pirate scum!"

At these words, Tenchi felt something shatter inside of himself. All of a sudden he didn't have the strength to hold the blaster anymore. Slowly his arm went limp at his side and finally the blaster clattered to the ground.

"I am no pirate," Tenchi said, more to himself than the officer.

"Huh?" The man obviously didn't know what to make of this unexpected development.

"I said, I am no pirate!"

Speaking these words Tenchi's head shot up, his eyes meeting those of the officer once more. The renewed fire within them made the man flinch, which was all the diversion Tenchi needed to send him to the ground with a left hook.

The squad commander fell right next to him, struck down by Ryoko. Without wasting a second the pirate advanced upon Tenchi with fire in her eyes.

"What do you think you're doing! I told you to stay behind!"

"Did you think I was just going sit by idly, watching you fight against four armed officers?" Tenchi defended himself.

"I've handled much worse odds," the pirate stated simply, taking his explanation as an insult to her fighting ability, since she was not quite used to the concept of someone being worried about her loosing a battle.

"They had plasma rifles," Tenchi pointed out much like this explained everything.

The only answer he received was a look from Ryoko, which told him exactly how much importance she attached to this fact. At the moment, however, Tenchi was quite comfortable with her taking him for a fool. That was because he didn't want to tell her that the other reason he had decided to join the battle was the hope of being able to reduce causalities. By now he had realized that this was indeed foolish and he had ended up almost killing one of the men by himself.

"Don't do this ever again. You might have gotten yourself killed."

Tenchi was a little surprised at the hint of concern this statement held, but he didn't have any time to keep track of the thought as a thunderous roar suddenly emanated from the center of the room. Quickly he checked the source and realized the meaning of the sound.

"They are starting up the engines!" he shouted over the noise, pointing into the direction of the two patrol ships stationed in the hangar.

"Damn, we need to hurry! Hold on!" She extended her hand towards him, obviously expecting him to grab on.

Yet Tenchi hesitated. The memory of dropping down a bottomless shaft was still vivid in his mind. He had no wish to be the victim of one of Ryoko's wicked plans one more time. Then again, whatever the pirate was planning, he didn't really have a better idea. Being well aware that he was going to regret it in a second, he reluctantly took Ryoko's hand.

She gave him an approving look, which made him feel very anxious and, unbeknownst to him, caused him to blush a little. Then they both disappeared into thin air.

Upon reappearing, Tenchi realized that he actually seemed to be getting used to teleportation little by little. This time his disorientation lasted only a second and, with genuine surprise, he realized that the surroundings had changed from the GSP hangar to the bridge of a spaceship. More specifically, a Galaxy Police standard patrol ship. Somehow Ryoko had managed to teleport them directly onto the bridge of one of the patrollers.

The pilot seemed to be too busy operating the controls in order to get the ship to lift off, as to take notice of their presence. Tenchi decided that a stealthy approach would be just right in this situation, but unfortunately Ryoko had other plans.

"Hey!" she shouted all of a sudden, making Tenchi flinch and the pilot almost die by a heart attack.

His eyes wide in terror, the officer whirled around in his chair, frantically reaching for his blaster.

"Don't you think that it's awfully rude of you to greet your guests like this?" Ryoko had meanwhile left Tenchi's side and planted himself in front of the pilot, making a sour face with her hands put on her hips.

"I... I... uhm...," the officer stuttered in response. He was unable to reach his weapon as his fear kept him from thinking straight.

"Such inadequate behavior needs to be punished immediately," the pirate told the unlucky officer in her most menacing voice.

The man opened and closed his mouth several times, but no sound would emerge.

"Cut it out, Ryoko!" Tenchi demanded. He had no idea why the pirate had to torture the man like this.

"Spoilsport," Ryoko mumbled under her breath, before she returned her full attention to the man in front of her, who had by now regained enough sense to carefully reach for his weapon once more. "Sorry, but the show 's over. Good night."

That said she backhanded him out of his seat and directly to the floor. Shocked, Tenchi stepped up to check the condition of the man immediately. He was eased to find that except from some bruises and being unconscious the man seemed to be unhurt. Defiantly he looked up at the pirate.

"Why did you have to do this?"

Ryoko was annoyed at the question. "What did you expect me to do? Asking him nicely if he was going to fly us out of here?"

"Perhaps this wouldn't have been such a bad idea, we might have been able to avoid drawing suspicion," Tenchi was quick to point out his thoughts.

"Don't give me that crap!" she put a stop to any further argument.

Tenchi realized Ryoko was about to seat herself in the pilot's chair.

"What are you doing now?" he asked, straightening himself up.

"What does it look like? I'm flying us out of here."

"And just how are you going to do this? I guess I'm right with the assumption that you never piloted a GP patrol ship before."

"It can't be that difficult," she stated, trying to cover his objections.

"That's not the point. If we want to get out of here we can't risk drawing any suspicion right now. I'm familiar with the controls. You should let me navigate, at least until we are out of here," Tenchi reasoned.

"You are not suggesting that I put my fate into your hands by letting you take control of this ship, are you?" she remarked sarcastically.

Tenchi was taken aback at her disability to trust.

"You would still be sitting in that cell of yours, if we hadn't risked everything to help you out, so I think you should at least trust me that far."

For a moment it seemed like she was just going to ignore his reasoning, but then she finally phased over right into the co-pilot's seat.

"Fine. Do what you want," she told him gruffly.

"Thank you." Where others might have said this in mockery, Tenchi really meant it. He was glad to receive this kind of trust from an independent person like Ryoko.

Without further words he took his seat and proceeded in the check up for the start. The other ship had already left the hangar, so they needed to hurry if they wanted to avoid unwanted attention.

Finally after what seemed like a small eternity, Tenchi completed the check up and the ship lifted off from the ground very slowly. Just as he had retracted the pins, Ryoko started cursing.

"Shit! We're hailed by the hangar control."

"That's just the standard procedure. Let me speak to them." Tenchi tried to hide his own nervousness as much as possible. If they made a mistake now, everything might have been in vain.

"Are you nuts! You can't talk to them!"

"Yes I can and I must or else they might shut us in," Tenchi explained with some urgency in his voice.

"Oh alright. If you want to get us killed, I'll be the last person to object." She touched a few buttons and soon they heard a slightly agitated male voice.

"Yukinojo, this is hangar control, please come in."

Tenchi tried to keep his voice steady despite his nervousness as he spoke, "This is Yukinojo. All systems set. Requesting permission to start."

"Everything all right over there, Yukinojo? It seems like there has been a fire fight near the gate. Are you positive that you haven't taken any damage?" the voice asked with some concern.

"Positive hangar control. All systems checked. I'm ready for take-off." Luckily the officer had no way to see that Tenchi's forehead was beaded in sweat by now.

"All right. You have starting permission, Yukinojo. Your objectives are to follow the pirate ship, Ashrow, together with the Kaminari and to determine their destination. Proceed stealthily and do not enter combat with the pirates. Do you understand?"

"Understood. Follow the pirates to their destination and collect data. Don't get involved in combat with the pirates."

"That's right. Good luck, Yukinojo. Hangar control out."

Tenchi couldn't help but sigh in relief and slump in his seat a little as Ryoko finally closed the connection.

"Not bad. You could have fooled me," the pirate conceded.

"Yes, I guess I could have even fooled myself," Tenchi mumbled as he carefully made the ship accelerate out of the Grand Space Prison's hangar.

"We better do as they told us for now. I want to be as far away as possible once they notice that something is wrong," he explained after they had returned to the complete freedom of space.

"Same here. I'm fine as long as you just make the engines roar."

And Tenchi did. Only a second later, the Yukinojo had vanished into hyperspace.

* * *

The royal gardens of Jurai were indeed an impressive place. Some even considered them as one of the most beautiful sights in the galaxy. But of course these assumptions were mostly based of rumors, since not everybody was allowed into the royal palace. As with most things of high esthetic value only people of the highest social classes, namely the royal family were allowed to enjoy the magnificence of the gardens. With the exception of those who were lucky enough to be entrusted with the task of maintaining the gardens, the royal family were the only ones who knew that the rumors were true. It really was a place of exceptional beauty.

The emperor himself often took a stroll through the gardens, in order to try and lift some of the everlasting political pressure off his mind for some hours. This time, however, Azusa was not going to find the longed for distraction.

Calmly the emperor walked down one of the many paths surrounded by the most exotic flowers and plants. Even if he didn't show it in public, his thoughts were still occupied with the Holy Book affair. He was well aware that constantly worrying about it wasn't going to get him anywhere, especially not if everything was taken care off already, but he couldn't help feeling uneasy at the absence of the ancient item. In the wrong hands it had the potential to bring disaster over Jurai. How was he supposed not to worry in such a situation?

Luckily, Ryoko would be handed over to them by the Galaxy Police soon. The whole affair didn't make Jurai appear in a positive light, but if it was going to help him restore the book, Azusa was going to do everything. As soon as they had Ryoko, they were going to get her to tell what she knew about the book's whereabouts and then she was finally going to be punished for all the crimes she had committed.

These thoughts and the sight of the garden should have put his mind at ease, but he still felt troubled. Somehow he had a feeling that it wasn't going to work out like this. Things had been set in motion, which couldn't be stopped anymore. He just hoped that they wouldn't lead into disaster.

It was then that he spotted a man standing further ahead on his path, which was rather unusual, since with the enormous size and the few people allowed in here, one did not normally meet someone on accident.

As he closed up to the man, however, Azusa realized that this encounter wasn't by accident at all. The man in front of him was nobody else than the head of Jurai's external affairs, Preceptor Kunrin.

But not until Azusa had almost reached him was it that Kunrin finally noticed his presence and turned around to greet him.

"Your majesty." He bowed deeply before the emperor.

"Preceptor." Azusa gave him a curt nod of approval, upon which Kunrin straightened up again. "I take it that you have not gone through the hardships of coming to the royal palace just in order to enjoy the flowers," the bearded emperor more asked than stated.

"As much as I would like to tell you different, I can't. I have actually come here searching for you, majesty," Kunrin affirmed.

"So you have news about Ryoko? Will she be handed over as planned?"

Even before he answered the preceptor's expression made Azusa realize that he wouldn't like what he was going to hear.

"Judging by the current state of affairs she will not be handed over at all."

Though he had tried to prepare himself, this statement still managed to cast a dark shadow on Azusa's face.

"Would you be so kind to tell me the meaning of this?" the emperor asked, impatience resonating in his voice.

"Of course, your majesty. From what I have been able to gather, there has been an incident at the Grand Space Prison just a couple of hours ago."

Azusa's expression darkened even more and so did his voice. "What kind of incident?" he demanded harshly.

"It seems like a pirate fleet has attacked the prison and a small group of them succeeded in boarding. They caused a major uproar, in which they were able to set free Ryoko..."

"That's ridiculous!" he was interrupted by the enraged emperor. "The Grand Space Prison is supposed to be the most secure institution of the Galaxy Police. How is it that a bunch of pirates can just walk in there and free their most dangerous prisoner?"

"According to the GP, the pirates proceeded really clever and with a lot of luck, but I think this just serves to show their absolute incompetence once more," Kunrin explained, not trying to hide the despise in his voice.

"What happened to the pirates and Ryoko? Did they escape?" Azusa asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"Unfortunately, yes. The pirates managed to make a close escape and Ryoko simply vanished. They assume that she abducted a patrol ship." As he had spoken these words, a thoughtful expression appeared on Kunrin's face. "What's really interesting is the fact that it is said that Tenchi Masaki has been one of the pirates and that he has disappeared together with Ryoko once again."

"Masaki again? This boy is really starting to become a nuisance," Azusa growled.

If it was the intention of Masaki to hurt the empire, he was really doing a good job. He had appeared out of nowhere and made himself a name by helping Ryoko to steal the Holy Book and now he had succeeded in freeing her from the Grand Space Prison. Azusa couldn't help but to feel that there had to be more about this boy than just a GP turned traitor. Nevertheless, if they acted quickly now, maybe everything was not lost.

"So you say they escaped with a Galaxy Police patrol ship?" he asked with caution.

"Yes, that is what I heard," the preceptor affirmed.

"That means that right now we can easily overpower them in speed and combat strength. They can't have gotten too far yet, if we mobilize the fleet immediately, we still might be able to spot them."

"Actually I have come here to request permission to do just that," Kunrin revealed his purpose.

"I grant you full authority in the matter. Just bring back Ryoko and maybe this Tenchi Masaki. They are our only clues at the whereabouts of the Holy Book right now."

"Thank you, majesty. I will do my best." He thought for a moment, then he addressed the emperor once more. "What do we do if the Galaxy Police gets in the way of our investigations again?"

Azusa believed that the GP would be conscious enough not to interfere after they obviously failed to keep their promise of handing over Ryoko.

"I don't think that they will cause any problems, but if they do... make it clear to them that this is now our case and that we are serious about it, but do not provoke them too much. I probably don't need to tell you that a conflict with the Galaxy Police is the last thing we need right now."

"Understood," Kunrin stated with a curt nod.

Actually he had hoped that they were finally going to show their place to those obtrusive GP. He couldn't understand why such an ineffective organization was allowed to interfere with Jurai's business at all. But this wasn't the time to disagree with the emperor's word, for Kunrin knew his emperor well enough that he could see him seething behind the calm fa?de he had put up at the mention of Ryoko's escape. He had learned in the past that reasoning with the emperor in such a state was pointless.

"The fleet will be ready before the night falls. Of course, I will personally inform you if we make any progress, your majesty." He bowed deeply once again at the last words and was excused by a nod from the emperor.

As soon as the preceptor was gone, Azusa gave up on his mask of calmness and allowed his emotions to come to the surface. An emotional emperor wouldn't be able to gain the trust of his people, but even the leader of such a powerful nation was still just a man and as such he couldn't suppress his emotions forever.

For endless seconds, Azusa just stood there, fighting against his fury towards Ryoko, his anger against the GP and his worry about the safety and stability of Jurai. Finally, he was able to regain control and put his mask back into place. He had been right. It wouldn't be easy to restore things to their former order. The Holy Book had been awakened and now it almost seemed like it was resisting being put back to sleep. It was longing to be used and Azusa's only worry was who was going to be the one to use it.

* * *

The bridge of the Yukinojo was submerged in tensed silence. Tenchi was sitting in the pilot's chair, flying the ship as if it were his own. In the depths of his mind he somehow tried to convince himself that this ship was actually the Yagami and that he was still on patrol.

The rear of the Kaminari could be seen on the view screen and some of the tactical controls indicated the presence of another ship in an ever growing distance. As incredible as this appeared to him, the Ashrow would get away, if the Kaminari didn't somehow manage to increase speed. But that was impossible. Just like the Yukinojo they were already at maximum speed.

"I guess you can stop the ship now."

Tenchi whirled around in shock. His eyes met the cyan haired woman and her presence reminded him of what he had done. Using his knowledge about the GP procedures, he had helped the most dreaded space pirate of the universe to make her escape.

"Hey, Tenchi! Are you listening? I said stop the ship!"

He stared at Ryoko absent-mindedly for another moment, then he did what she said.

"We are out of hyperspace now," he stated.

"Good," Ryoko said. "Then let's get away from here as far as possible. Looking at the rear of a GP ship makes one feel rather rough, don't ya think, Tenchi?"

But before Tenchi was able to give an appropriate answer he was startled by a buzz from the com.

"It's the Kaminari," he murmured, his worry clear in his voice.

Ryoko just shrugged in indifference. "I don't think they will give up pursuit of the Ashrow. And if they do..." The space pirate phased right next to Tenchi and whispered with a wide grin, "... they will get to know the firepower of their own ships."

"No!" Tenchi shouted and jumped out of his seat. "You are not going to kill any more people!"

Surprised by Tenchi's sudden outburst, Ryoko stepped back a little. Seeing the anger burning in his eyes vanquished her grin immediately.

"Stop talking nonsense. What would you do, Tenchi? Surrender, now that we've almost made it?"

Tenchi just kept staring at her in fury. "There is always a way of solving problems without killing people," he said with determination, but Ryoko simply swept the words aside with her hand.

"Oh spare me with that naive rubbish. One would think you had learned your lesson. There are a lot of dark minded people out there, who wouldn't hesitate a second getting rid of a troublesome enemy. Standing against one of those you only have two choices. Kill, or be killed. What's more important to you, your conscience or your life?"

Some of Tenchi's fury died away at her reasoning, but he had enough anger left to continue the discussion.

"You didn't have to kill Trake. Maybe he was evil, yes. Still, it would have been easy for you to just knock him unconscious, but you simply killed him. Why?"

Since Ryoko didn't answer right away, Tenchi continued. Desperation had meanwhile replaced the anger in his voice.

"I can't understand why this was necessary. He didn't even threaten your life. So why did you kill him?"

"Because I didn't want you to die."

Although Ryoko had spoken those words quite audible, Tenchi ignored them.

"Did you think you would do me a favor killing him, or do you just enjoy having the power to decide about life and death? I've seen how you tortured him. You enjoyed it, didn't you? And that's the problem with you. You kill just for fun. You don't even regret it, do you?"

Ryoko sighed. "Are you finished now?" She yawned theatrically, but got serious again right away. "But that's strange. If you are so well informed about my habits, why did you come to my rescue in the first place?"

"I... uhm...," Tenchi stuttered and avoided Ryoko's gaze. But quickly he remembered that he wasn't supposed to be the one shoved into the defensive. He looked her in the eyes with all the resolve he could muster and spoke in a firm voice. "Answer my question first. Do you regret the death of the people you have killed?"

Ryoko sighed again and shook her head. "You're really persistent, Tenchi." She gave him a serious look and continued. "There are only very few things I regret and the death of some scum certainly isn't part of it. But I'm no monster, you know. I've never ever killed someone for money or without a reason."

"But..."

"No buts." Ryoko raised her index finger. "Remember the rules. I've answered your question, so you have to answer mine now. Why did you come to my rescue?"

Tenchi hesitated. He turned away from Ryoko and watched the empty space. But of course the answer wasn't out there.

"Seems like you've been right. The Kaminari has kept up pursuit," he murmured.

"Tenchi?" Ryoko asked, obviously still waiting for an answer to her question.

"I...," Tenchi started. "I... I don't know why." He turned back to her to see a surprised expression on her face. The answer was hidden within those beautiful golden eyes, but he had to deny it.

"What?" Ryoko gasped. "But you have to know what you are doing."

Tenchi looked at her, deep in thought. "Maybe I don't," he whispered and slowly walked up to the main screen.

Ryoko watched him carefully, unable to understand the meaning of his unusual behavior. He stopped directly in front of space, his back turned to her.

"It's been my primary objective to get you into jail all this time. And then, when someone actually arrested you, I am the one to help you escape... that doesn't make much sense, does it?"

"You're absolutely right, Tenchi." Ryoko nodded and made some steps into his direction, but stopped as Tenchi spoke up again.

"But the worst of the whole thing is..." He took a deep breath. "... that I'm starting to regret what I have done."

There was a moment of absolute silence. But before it became unbearable Ryoko appeared at Tenchi's side and said in her most cheerful voice, "Nah Tenchi, come on. Stop moping. I would have gotten out of there by myself anyway. You just helped me to do it a little faster."

He looked at her, knowing that she was wrong. As soon as she would have been in Juraian custody, there would have been no escape. Still, he remained silent.

"I guess it wasn't such a bad idea to leave you on a planet inhabited by pirates after all." Ryoko hovered slowly backwards just above the floor and like this forced Tenchi to turn back to her. "The last time I checked, Burak's gang was no more than a small group of smugglers. Who would have thought they'd be though enough to start such a rescue operation. Did you spur them on?"

Tenchi was quick to shake his head. "No, I had no choice but to follow them. Otherwise they would have killed me. You knew that, right?"

"Well..." Ryoko shrugged. "Other planets other customs."

A gloomy expression suddenly too its place on Tenchi's face. "So you wanted me to die," he stated and nodded slowly.

"Oh, Tenchi," Ryoko shouted and came flying over, stopping right in front of him. "You're so emotional today." She took his hand and started floating around him, forcing him to spin with her. "Of course I didn't want you to die. You are way too precious to me, so cheer up."

Tenchi tried to get out of her grip, but she whirled even faster.

"Stop it, Ryoko. That's not funny!" he shouted and much to his surprise the pirate stopped.

"I thought it was," she said. "Anyway, we're both free now, so..." A soft moan made her stop in mid sentence.

"He's coming to," Tenchi said and pointed at the GP pilot, who was still lying on the ground, dazed.

"Then we should take him somewhere he can rest some more," the pirate replied and before Tenchi had a chance to protest, she was already gone together with the man.

He stared at the place the man had occupied for another moment, then he returned to the pilot's chair and took a seat.

Chaos ruled supreme inside his head. Why had he done it? He was unable to figure out what he had thought would happen after he set her free. Maybe he hadn't thought that they would be successful and subconsciously just taken this as a chance to end this once and for all. Deep inside, however, he knew that this wasn't the truth. He had gone on this mission only with the purpose of saving his and Ryoko's life. But why would he want to save the life of one who only used it to take the life of others? There were a lot of things he had to think about, but now wasn't the right time. He felt exhausted and tired.

Slowly he moved his hands over the controls. If they stayed here any longer, they would be spotted soon for certain. They had to go on. Tenchi was about to enter the new coordinates, as he hesitated. Where should they go?

"We are flying to the Karana system," Ryoko's voice rang out from behind him.

Tenchi was surprised. "Why? What do you want there?" he asked.

Ryoko took her place in the co-pilot's chair and gave him a dark look. "I want to get back what was taken from me."

Several seconds passed until Tenchi was able to understand what she was getting at. As he realized the meaning of her words, his eyes grew wide.

"You mean... the holy book... was stolen from you?" he asked a little bit confused.

"Well..." Ryoko tilted her head slightly, much like she thought carefully about what she was going to say next. "I brought the book to my client, but instead of payment I got some poisoned arrows and awoke in a prison cell. So you could say it was stolen from me."

Tenchi nodded, seemingly deep in thought. Ryoko wondered what he was thinking about and decided to satisfy her curiosity by asking a suitable question.

"What are you mulling about?"

"About nothing," he answered automatically. It was apparent that the pirate didn't believe him, so he quickly added, "I guess I'm just a bit tired." And smiled in apology.

Ryoko returned the smile and as Tenchi became aware of the situation, his face obtained a red touch and he hurried to return his attention to the controls in front of him. Swiftly his fingers rushed over the surface of the control panel and only a few seconds later, he leaned back in his seat slightly.

"I've set course for the Karana system. We should get there in about six hours," he explained, trying to sound as indifferent as possible.

"Good," Ryoko replied, silently wondering why the ex-GP officer had agreed with her plan so quickly. From what she had learned up to now it was kind of unusual for him to cooperate with her without any discussion. But it didn't matter anyway. All that mattered was to show this dark guy that he had gone too far and to retake her loot. Maybe her other client was still interested and she was going to get her payment after all.

"Well..." Tenchi stood. "I have activated the auto-pilot, but maybe you want to take a look at the controls in the meantime. I'm going to take a nap," he explained and made his way to the door.

"Nice dreams, Tenchi," Ryoko said in a sweet voice, making him turn one more time, before the door finally closed.

Tenchi kept standing there for another moment, then he continued on his way. Slowly he walked through the single corridor, which connected the bridge with the sleeping quarters and the engine room. He had only made a couple of steps as he suddenly heard a metallic sound. It didn't take him too long to confirm the engine room as the source, but until he realized what or who was producing the sound, almost a minute passed.

Swiftly Tenchi approached the engine room, but stopped in front of the door. He had his doubts that it was such a good idea to lock the GP-pilot up in the heart of the ship of all places. The sound ceased and Tenchi decided to take a look if the man was alright.

Like he had hoped and expected, the door was unlocked. Carefully he entered the comparatively small room and immediately spotted the GP-pilot, who was sitting in the far corner. Ryoko had tied up his hand and feet and attached him to a supply pipe, in a way which made it almost impossible for him to move.

As Tenchi got closer, the man raised his head and looked at him.

"Are you finally going to kill me now?" he asked, faking indifference.

Tenchi stopped and shook his head. "Nobody is going to kill you. We just..." he searched a few seconds for the right words. "... have to keep you here until we get a chance to drop you off or find another ship."

The man's smile made it clear that he didn't believe what he just heard. "You are Masaki, right?"

Tenchi didn't manage to hide his surprise completely. "You know my name?" he asked, trying to remember the man's face. He was almost a hundred percent certain that he never met him before.

"You are on the most wanted list. Everyone who's at least a little interested knows your face."

"Hm..." Tenchi nodded. He turned around and was about to leave, feeling that this man was only looking for someone to direct his frustration at.

"Changed sides, eh... Masaki?" the man shouted after him. "You might have made a good Ryoko hunter. Too bad that you weren't able to resist her charm."

If the pilot had been able to see Tenchi's face, he would have seen that his words did have quite an effect. They stirred many different emotions within the young man's mind all at once. Fury, anger, sorrow, desperation and finally indifference.

"What I have done is none of your business," he squeezed out. "I'm still on the side of justice."

With these words he reached the door and stepped outside as it opened for him. He could hear the man shouting behind him, "And just what kind of justice might that be?" Then the door closed.

As if he was chased by the words, Tenchi hurried to reach the sleeping quarters. Once there, he dropped himself down on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

Somehow everything had turned out different from what he had imagined. He had risked his life in order to save Ryoko, but she wasn't even showing the slightest hint of gratitude. Of course that was just the way she was and he had known it. So why had he hoped that she might have changed? Throughout her absence he had created another image of her inside his head. A nice, friendly, mysterious Ryoko, who knew what was right and wrong. It had been this Ryoko he had felt concerned about. It had been her he wanted to rescue, not the person whose first action in freedom was a killing act.

Tenchi sighed and closed his eyes. Probably he was too tired to analyse things objectively right now. Maybe he should just stop worrying and go to sleep. Soon he might be able to restore the book and thus get the chance to finally do something right. With this thought he fell asleep.

* * *

It was about noon, but could have as well been midnight. There were no windows for the daylight to pass through. The room itself was only dimly lit, giving it a somewhat dark atmosphere.

Currently it was occupied by only a few men. Still, the air was saturated by smoke, which served to contribute a mysterious touch. If it hadn't been for the music, he actually might have liked the place. It was that kind of deafening techno sound, which was especially enjoyed by those people who wanted to forget about their senseless lives. But he was not here to forget.

Even though the pounding basses made it almost impossible to hear the approaching steps, he knew that someone was coming from behind.

A chubby man pushed past the cramped tables and crossed the small stage, on which the attractive body of a scantily clad female dancer moved to the rhythm of the music. His vision slightly blurred by all the smoke, he made his way towards the strange guest, who had been sitting there for quite some time already and obviously neither seemed to be interested in the girls, nor in the liquor the establishment had to offer.

"There you go. An Angry Pirate's Dream." The man put the glass he had been carrying the entire time down on the table. But under his long hood, the guest remained silent and didn't even give him a glance.

"Now, you're not the talkative type, are you?" The barkeeper was hoping to catch another glimpse of the mysterious man's face. "Well, guess it's none of my business... as long as you pay, that is," he said a little discontented and walked away.

Kagato watched him disappear in the smoke next to the bar from beneath his hood.

Something must have went wrong. He was supposed to meet an informant here, but the man wasn't showing up. Had the information he was about to receive not been of such major importance, Kagato would have long since left this place.

His gaze came to rest upon the glass, which was still standing in front of him, untouched. The liquid inside was of a poisonous green color and gave off a smell, which indicated high proof alcohol. Kagato pushed the glass aside and once more scanned the room thoroughly, but still careful to not draw any attention.

There were only five other men present in the small bar currently. Three of them had been playing cards all the time and the other two barely managed to hold their selves on top of their stools, their minds totally shut down by alcohol. Nobody had entered or left the bar since he had taken his place near the door. The appointment had been over an hour ago and unpunctuality wasn't normally a characteristic of the man he was waiting for.

However, if he left now, he most certainly wouldn't get the necessary information in time to make any final preparations. So he simply had to wait.

A little annoyed that things were not going as planned, Kagato took the glass and gulped down some of the liquor. It wasn't the first Angry Pirate's Dream he'd ever drunk and surprisingly not the worst.

Suddenly he heard a voice behind him.

"Hi."

Kagato didn't react. He just kept sitting over his liquor, unmoving, the hood drawn deep into his face. The voice was definitely not that of his informant and he didn't like getting into useless conversation.

"I've never seen you around here. How do you like it?"

Something in that female voice stirred memories within him, but he withstood the temptation to take a look at the woman, who was standing next to him by then.

"Well, I hate this place. My dream is to get out of here one day. Where do you come from?" she asked right out.

Kagato raised his head a little and answered slowly. "I'm coming from a place you couldn't imagine in your worst nightmares and I'm sure you don't want to go there."

The young woman made a resigned sound. "I understand," she said just a little disappointed and as she walked away, she could feel the gaze of the visitor resting on her.

A strange mixture of emotions welled up inside of Kagato. The same delicate figure, the same long black hair, the same sadness in her voice. 'No!' he tried to reseal the images of the past, but it wasn't easy. He couldn't help but to see her sad face in front of him and hear the hated voice of his father, which told him that her place wasn't at his side.

Kagato took the glass and tried to wash away his memories together with the burning liquid. He was going to make the one who was responsible for her death pay. That was what he had sworn back then, but that had been long ago. He had started a new life and he had managed to forget about his painful past.

The door behind him was opened. Kagato took another gulp before he turned around slowly.

The man who had just entered was wearing military boots and was obviously trying to hide the rest of his Juraian uniform under a long coat. As he recognized Kagato, he quickly approached him. Even before he had seated himself opposite the pirate, he already started talking nervously.

"Sorry, I wasn't able to make it any sooner. The whole military is in an uproar. Ryoko has escaped. An hour ago a small pirate troop has overcome the security systems of the GSP and freed Ryoko. She has escaped with a GP patrol ship."

"Bad news," Kagato said calmly. "Where is she heading?"

"Uhm..." The man seemed to have difficulties understanding what Kagato was asking for. "Nobody knows exactly. Those GP idiots have taken her ship for one of theirs at first and not given pursuit. But it's said she has taken off in the vague direction of the Karana system."

Kagato nodded. Perhaps Ryoko would seek out the place in which she had hidden the book.

"What's the military going to do about it?"

"Well, a few minutes before I left someone told me that Preceptor Kunrin was going to request permission to take up pursuit with half of the fleet. But it might as well be just a rumor. I doubt that the emperor would be so reckless to endanger the entire security of Jurai just because of a single pirate."

"There is more to this than just the life of a pirate," Kagato said and stood up.

"What do you mean?" the Juraian asked, but Kagato just took a small bag out of his coat and threw it onto the table.

"Nothing you have to worry about. Pay my drink. I have to go."

With these words he left the dumbfounded man and only a few seconds later the bar

* * *

Tenchi was confused. He was standing in the middle of the narrow corridor, which connected the bridge of the Yukinojo with the other rooms. It was rather dark and unusually quiet. Tenchi couldn't remember how he had gotten here, or what exactly his purpose was.

Suddenly a scream of mortal terror echoed through the hallway. Tenchi flinched in shock.

The scream repeated itself and this time it was full of torment. Without thinking he turned around and hurried towards the engine room, where the screams had originated. He opened the door, rushed inside and stopped in terror. The sight he was granted was too gruesome for his mind to process immediately. Only one thing he knew for certain. He had been too late.

"Why did you do this?" Tenchi shouted, his voice cracking.

Ryoko rose up from the bloody remains of the GP pilot and slowly turned towards him. An evil grin appeared on her face, which was covered with red splashes.

"I did it, because I felt like it," she said slowly as she approached Tenchi.

He retreated. Never had he feared Ryoko like this.

He only managed a couple of steps, however, before he felt the cold wall of the room blocking his path. Apparently Ryoko didn't fail to notice his fear, since her smile became more pleasant as she got closer to him.

"I have the absolute freedom..." She stepped up to him and slowly brought her right hand up to caress Tenchi's face with her blood-stained fingers. "... to do everything I want," she finished in a sweet voice.

Tenchi wanted to push her off, but he had lost control over his body. He stood there, petrified, and felt Ryoko spreading more and more blood on his face.

"It's no use to fight against me, so stop struggling," she whispered into his ear.

Tenchi gave up his resistance and all of a sudden the panic and fear he had felt changed into a much more pleasant feeling. Her touch wasn't intimidating anymore, but warm and gentle. He lost himself in her beautiful eyes, unable to find any hint of spitefulness or cruelty. In front of him was standing a stunning woman with a smile that made him melt away.

Just as he felt his body reacting to her presence, the scene changed.

It was completely dark now. But Tenchi knew that there wasn't any threat in this darkness. It was more of a black cloak, hiding all that not supposed to be seen.

He himself was lying in a soft bed now, awake and yet aware that he was dreaming, but not alone. Next to him he felt the warm skin of Ryoko, sending shivers down his spine. She was sleeping peacefully. 'What's this?' he thought and sat up.

Suddenly he felt like he was being watched. Somewhere in the dark that was cutting him, Ryoko and this forbidden part of his mind off from the rest of the world, there was hiding someone, watching his every movement. Tenchi looked around, but the more he tried to see through the darkness, the more substantial it seemed to become.

"Who are you?" he shouted out to the darkness, but instead of an answer he heard Ryoko's voice.

"Hey Tenchi, wake up," it roared through the internal com. Tenchi sat up, still a little dazed. "We've reached our destination." A look out of the room's space pane proved her statement. They weren't moving in hyperspace any longer.

He supported his elbows on his knees and tried to rub the leftovers of sleep out of his eyes. What might his subconscious have been trying to tell him with such a dream? He thought for a while, got rid of a couple of ridiculous options and finally concluded that he might have been too harsh on Ryoko in their talk. After all she had no responsibility for the situation. He had rescued her and now he had to deal with the consequences. But since there was no way to change what had happened, it was of little use to reproach himself or others for it. Tenchi was surprised himself at how objectively he was seeing things now. Maybe a little sleep had been necessary after all.

He stretched his limbs thoroughly, restored the original state of his resting place in no time and left the room. On his way to the bridge he decided to cooperate a little better from here. After all he and Ryoko had a mutual mission now, one objective and they would only reach it if they worked together.

* * *

If one was alone on the bridge of a space ship, out of hyperspace and far from any solar system, it was almost possible to hear the silence of infinite space. Where a planet, or even a large space station, bustling with life might have stood their ground against this silence, a single ship, especially one as small as the Yukinojo, was just engulfed in it.

Although she could feel the silence around her, the pilot of the GP patrol didn't pay it any heed. People were usually frightened and some were even suffering from panic attacks in outer space, like some kind of space sickness, but to her the silence had become a second nature over the years.

Ryoko had more important matters to worry about. First of all that much like she had expected and feared there was nothing to be seen out there other than the twinkling stars in the distance and the slightly larger globe of Karana. Now the pirate would have been less concerned if she knew for sure that she had remembered the coordinates correctly.

She was startled out of her worries as she heard the door open. Someone entered and stepped up to her from behind, but she didn't turn around. By now Ryoko was able to identify Tenchi by the sounds of his movement. She heard him come up closer, but then he suddenly stopped, remaining in what he probably thought was a safe distance. What should have been a playful grin turned into a sad smile. He was still scared of her.

"There's nothing out there," Tenchi couldn't help but to state the obvious, after Ryoko showed no reaction to his presence.

"I know, but this doesn't mean anything. The last time I met him I couldn't see him either. He's probably out there, hiding somewhere."

A few seconds of silence passed, in which Ryoko kept staring at the screen as if she was expecting to find something in the emptiness out there like this. Finally Tenchi wasn't able to contain his doubts at the weird acting any longer.

"Are you sure these are the right coordinates? I mean, there's nobody here. And if you couldn't see him, how do you know that he didn't meet you with a ship and left right away anyway?" Asking these questions, Tenchi grew increasingly agitated, as he realized that he had been left out on important information once more.

Ryoko finally turned her seat around to face him. The look of annoyance on her face made Tenchi forget about his own anger very quickly.

"No, I don't know if these are the right coordinates. Remembering them wasn't exactly my top concern as I was anesthetized and locked up in a cell for over a week. And yes, he might be gone already, but right now this is all we have."

Suddenly it became very obvious to Tenchi, that Ryoko actually seemed to be just as clueless as him. He started to regret his earlier outburst.

"I'm sorry, but even if he were out there, how are we supposed to find him, if we can't see him with the bare eye?" Tenchi yielded just a little.

"How should I know? He just teleported my entire ship into his hangar the last time and I didn't even notice at first." Ryoko was getting quite upset at the apparent hopelessness of the situation.

Tenchi, meanwhile, being a little better at keeping in his emotions, realized the importance of her last statement after he thought about it for a second.

"So there might be a chance that he still keeps the Souja around in this hangar?" he asked, still half in thought.

"Yeah, that's right," the pirate confirmed.

She was shocked about how she could have totally forgotten about her ship. But the thought of being able to reclaim it together with the book renewed her vigor.

"Maybe we should try to search for the Souja's energy signature. Even if the systems are shut down, if we know exactly what we are searching for, we should be able to find it," Tenchi explained his plan. It was actually a part of his training, he remembered. Searching for hiding ships by their energy signature, if it was known to them, was actually a common practice of the Galaxy Police.

"That's it, Tenchi!" Ryoko's eyes grew wide in excitement as she slammed her fist in her open palm.

As a somewhat funny grin appeared on her face, Tenchi started to feel very uneasy. It seemed like she was going to latch onto him every second now. But the dangerous moment passed and Tenchi was glad that she wasn't able to see the tension leaving his body as she turned around to face the controls again.

Another second passed without her doing anything.

"Uhm... I don't know how to do it."

Tenchi had some trouble suppressing a snicker at the bluntness of the statement, but he managed, knowing that it wouldn't have been taken lightly on him.

After having seated himself in the co-pilot's chair, he started preparing the Yukinojo's scanners for the search. Now he was glad that he had always taken the training at the academy very serious, so he remembered the necessary routines by heart. It took him only a minute to complete the process.

"You know the Souja's energy signature?" Ryoko asked, a little taken aback.

This time Tenchi wasn't able to keep in a chuckle at her unusual naivety.

"Every GP ship has a data bank with information on the most important criminals, including data on their ships," he explained. "You are at the top of the list."

"Oh," was all that Ryoko managed as an answer.

At best the scan was going to take a little while, so Tenchi decided that he might as well try and gather some more information.

"So who is this guy we are looking for anyway?" he asked, trying his best to get rid of the unusual tension he still felt conversing with the space pirate.

"I don't know either. I didn't have the chance to do any research about him. Only one thing I know for sure." Her expression became dead serious as she faced Tenchi, making it all the more difficult for him to shake off his tension. "He's very dangerous. I had a bad feeling about him right from the start and it seems like I've been right. There's definitely more to this guy than meets the eye."

"He was the one who opened the dark portal back at the alpha base, right?" Tenchi asked, feeling a little uneasy at the thought that they might be going to face a man who held such power.

"Yes, that was definitely him."

The conversation was cut short by an acoustic signal catching Tenchi's attention. He directed his attention at the controls in front of him and accessed the results of the scan. Though it had been his idea, he hadn't really expected to find something, so he was quite surprised at the data.

"That's strange. The scanners have discovered a matching energy signature right in front of us. But there is nothing at these coordinates."

"See, I told you he was invisible," Ryoko exclaimed, not making a secret of the fact that she relished having been right.

"But that's impossible!"

"We'll see. Now give me the coordinates," the pirate suddenly demanded.

"What are you going to do?" Tenchi asked, alarmed at her sudden change in tone.

"You'll find out soon enough. The coordinates. Now!"

Tenchi couldn't help but to feel that he wasn't going to like what she was going to do, but he didn't have any ideas by himself, so he just submitted the location of the energy signature to her station.

A feral grin appeared on the pirate's face and almost made Tenchi regret his decision. Then her hand smashed down on the controls, making the Yukinojo fire a barrage of plasma blasts. Tenchi was about to protest, as his eyes fell on the view screen.

"What the...?"

The blasts Ryoko had fired hit something in mid flight and released their energy in circle waves upon impact, revealing a structure, where nothing had been but the emptiness of space. Within seconds the energy reaction spread and it became obvious that what had been hidden in front of them was in fact another space ship. Quite huge a space ship, indeed.

The hull was pitch black, so it was difficult to see any details, but it was of circular design, with a spherical dent in the front, adorned by two curved spikes. Obviously the ship was constructed after some kind of predatory insect. What was truly impressive, however, was its size, which easily compared to that of a Galaxy Police cruiser.

Ryoko whistled appreciatively. "Cloaking technology. Now that's what I call a neat ship."

"But I though it was impossible to completely hide a ship of that size," Tenchi exclaimed, still not fully trusting his eyes.

"Thought so as well. This guy is full of surprises."

The both stared at the dark ship for at least another minute, before Ryoko finally dared to speak again.

"We better go look for a way inside of there, before he realizes that he's been spotted."

Tenchi's mind was slow to come into gears again after this awesome discovery, but he still noticed that something was not quite right here.

"Now wait a minute. That's a space ship, right? Don't you think it's a little strange that he would sit around here for over a week?" he stated his concerns.

"Why waste the energy and fly around, if nobody is able to find you anyway?"

"Don't you think it might be a trap?" Tenchi asked, bothered by her ignorance.

Ryoko just rolled her eyes. "Of course it's a trap. I told you this guy was dangerous. With him it's possible that he knew we were coming for him all along. That's why you will stay here."

"What? You can't be serious."

"But I am. This guy is somewhere over there and if I have to fight him to get back the book and my ship, I will. You would only be a hindrance to me if it came down to combat."

She regretted the harsh words almost the instant she spoke them, but it was the truth. There was no way she could guarantee Tenchi's safety over there.

"I can take care of myself and whatever you say I'm not going to let you go in there alone."

Tenchi's voice carried even more determination than he had originally intended. Even though there was not much gain in it for him, letting her go search for the book on her own just didn't seem right.

For a moment, Ryoko considered the thought of just tying him up, but quickly decided against it. It was risky, but as she saw the determination in Tenchi's eyes, she realized that, for whatever reason, he really wanted to do this together with her. She couldn't possibly say no to him like this.

"Alright, let's search for a place to dock. I want to make this guy pay for messing with me."

* * *

The corridor was darker than a starless night. As he stepped out of the narrow access tunnel, Tenchi instantly regretted not having brought a flashlight. He had always thought it silly for people to fear the darkness, but in the face of the ultimate absence of light in front of him, he was suddenly able to understand them a lot better.

Ryoko, meanwhile, didn't seem to be intimidated by the darkness in the least. Without hesitation she left the tunnel and the little that was left of the Yukinojo's light and entered the dark ship.

"That's good. Maybe he didn't expect us after all," Tenchi heard the disembodied voice of the pirate.

There was a hissing sound and Ryoko became visible again, bathed in an aura of red. She had activated her energy sword, much to Tenchi's relief and terror. Illuminated by the pale glow of the deadly weapon the pirate almost looked like she was drenched in blood, making him momentarily remember his dream from before.

"Are you going to stand there all day?" Ryoko asked and the image disappeared.

As Tenchi followed her kind invitation, he couldn't help but to wonder if it perhaps hadn't been such a good idea to accompany her. Stepping up to her he remained careful to stay out of the range of her sword.

Without further words, Ryoko turned and started walking into one of the two directions the corridor offered, leaving Tenchi no choice but to follow her close by if he didn't want to loose himself in the darkness.

"How do you know this is the right direction," he asked after a while, a little unnerved by her unusually silent behavior.

"I don't, but we have to start looking somewhere," Ryoko explained to him without slowing down.

It was then that Tenchi realized the reason for her curtness. She was all tensed up. Obviously she felt the danger emanated by this place as well and it seemed to bother her even more than him. As he stole another look, he noticed that there were beads of sweat on her forehead. He decided not to attempt any further conversation and so they continued down the corridor in silence for some minutes.

Finally they reached an open doorway, leading into a slightly larger chamber. Ryoko entered right away, but Tenchi hesitated. Somehow he almost felt like the darkness was watching him. Or someone was watching him from out of the darkness. He turned around, but wasn't able to see anything.

"Creepy," he murmured to himself and turned to enter the chamber behind Ryoko.

He was quite perturbed to find that the pirate was nowhere to be seen. However, there was some light emitting from somewhere within the room.

"Ryoko?" he wasn't able to keep his worry out of his voice completely.

There was no answer. Taking it as a hint at her location, he carefully headed into the direction of the source of light in front of him. However, this proved to be more difficult then he had thought. There were several large cylindrical objects blocking the path and he kept bumping into them on the way.

After he had finally managed to cross most of the ridiculously small distance, that bad feeling that had inhabited his guts for some time now, became even worse. The color of the light that had guided him, wasn't red, it was a bright green. Whatever was the source of it, it definitely wasn't Ryoko.

"Hey Ryoko!" Tenchi tried one more time, but again it was in vain.

Scanning the room for any sign of the pirate, he stepped out of the shadow of another of those cylinders and right into the glowing green light. Instinctively he turned and discovered its source almost directly in front of him.

"Ack!" His eyes wide he staggered back from the horrifying sight that presented itself to him.

It was another of those cylinders, but this one was filled to the top with a glowing green substance. Suspended within was a perfectly preserved skeleton. This would have been enough to give Tenchi the scare of the century, but exactly in this moment the light in the room was turned on. Just a few minutes ago he had yearned for some light, now he almost wished for the darkness to return. The other tubes weren't empty either, only filled with less fluorescent liquids. Each one of them held the bones of a humanoid.

When Tenchi was finally able to calm his nerves a little and took a closer look at his discovery, he noticed that each of the skeletons seemed to be of a different species. Some he recognized, others were foreign to him. It really was quite a freak show.

"Over here, Tenchi!" His sight was blocked off by the tubes, but this time the voice was definitely Ryoko's.

Even with the light restored it took him a moment to find his way through the jungle of the deceased. As he finally emerged from it to the side of the chamber, Ryoko was already waiting for him.

"What have you been doing in there?" she asked, the concern plain in her voice.

"I've been looking for you... didn't you hear me calling?" He was genuinely confused, both at the fact that she had worried about him and that she hadn't heard him shouting.

"No, I didn't hear anything," she answered, giving him a strange look. As it became apparent that he wasn't going to explain himself, she just asked what was on her mind, "Well anyway, what do you think about this?" She made a gesture to the center of the room with its tubes.

"It's a freak show," Tenchi stated his earlier assessment.

"If you think this is twisted then take a look at this." With these words she handed him some kind of data pad she had been holding the entire time.

From the way it looked it seemed to be quite old, but obviously it was still functional. As Ryoko gave him an encouraging nod, he activated the pad and started reading. It was some kind of project log:

"Recently I was able to acquire an excellent Juraian specimen. It is of royal blood, so naturally it has a lot of potential. This is going to be a promising project."

"First experiments brought mostly positive results. Actually the specimen already shows a higher response rate than any previous project. This is most unusual."

"I have figured out that the Juraian mind seems to be perfect for my purposes. I have successfully increased the specimen's physical abilities and his response rate is incredible. Complete mental control seems possible at any given time."

"Unfortunately, the specimen has fallen into mental degradation. At this rate he will be left in a state of permanent mental disorder. I will dispose of him as soon as I made some final tests."

"The final tests have revealed a major flaw in the routine of mental processing. Any further experiments are pointless. A more indirect method of mental processing is required. I will start to do research as I shut down this lab. However, I am still positive that Juraians are the most promising specimen." This was the last entry.

Tenchi was taken aback. From what he understood of what he had read, the guy who had written this had been messing with the minds of his so called specimen. This was horrible.

"Quite the lunatic, I would say," Ryoko stated dryly.

"Do you think this is the same guy who has tricked you?" Tenchi asked, still unable to believe that someone was capable of such experiments.

"Yup, that's definitely him."

Suddenly it dawned on Tenchi what this maniac might want with the holy book. Maybe he thought that by reading it he would get a better understanding of his favorite specimen. He had no idea what was written in the book, but the Juraians had to have a reason for all the safekeeping.

"We have to stop him," Tenchi spoke his thoughts aloud.

"Yeah, I still have an account to settle with him too. But in order to do this, we need to find him first," Ryoko tried her best to sound carefree.

Though that wasn't how she felt at all. She didn't know why and how, but she could sense his presence like an omnipresent fog which tried to suffocate her. Like when she had faced him in person the first time, even doing the easiest things was becoming a major strain to her. He had to be nearby and despite her faked confidence, she didn't know if they would be able to defeat him if it came down to combat.

"Let's go on," she said, pointing at a nearby door.

Tenchi just nodded and walked over to the controls, which he operated. Surprisingly they proved to be still functional as the door opened with a hiss. Ryoko indicated for him to stay behind and entered the next room a little more carefully. The light from behind her was quickly turned back to darkness by this chamber, so she wasn't able to estimate its dimensions, but she had a vague feeling that it was huge. Tenchi entered right behind her and the door closed after him, allowing the darkness to engulf them.

This time even Ryoko, who really had cat-like eyes, wasn't able to make out anything anymore. Just as she was about to activate her sword in order to remedy this condition, there was a bright flash of light, blinding them both for a second. As their sight returned, they were stunned to find themselves standing in the middle of a beautiful green plain, which stretched up to the horizon in all directions. Where just had been nothing but darkness was now a blue cloudless sky, letting the bright rays of the local sun bath the plains in light.

"What's this?" Tenchi asked, dumbfounded.

"An holographic experimental chamber," a deep voice answered from behind.

Ryoko turned and Tenchi whirled around to find a white haired man in a blue robe with a green cape.

"That's him!" the pirate snarled with a side-glance at Tenchi.

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to greet you sooner, but you arrived faster than I expected and I still had some preparations to complete," he explained with a smile.

"Where's the book and the Souja?" Ryoko demanded, having to fight hard for the words in face of his incredible power.

"Oh, your ship..." he said as if he had forgotten about something important. "... you are going to get it back soon, of course. But there are some things I need to do first." He turned to face Tenchi. "You won't mind to assist me, young man?" he asked with a smirk and made a step towards the object of his attention.

"Keep your hands off Tenchi!" Ryoko screamed and released a powerful energy blast at the dark man.

Unfortunately the blast was deflected by a force field before it could do any damage to its target. Still, it made him stop his advance on Tenchi, who seemed to be completely paralysed, and face the pirate once more.

"So you really want to fight me for him? How utterly entertaining," he laughed. "I have waited a long time to finally get a chance to estimate your abilities first hand."

"You won't be disappointed." Seeing Tenchi in danger had given Ryoko the mental strength to fight him off and now, she decided, it was finally time for payback.

With a scream that would have sufficed to subdue most enemies, she launched herself at him, activating her sword in mid-flight. As he didn't make a move to defend himself, it almost seemed like she would be able to neatly cut him in half, but a glowing green energy blade appeared in his hand the last instant, blocking her attack.

Ryoko was still having difficulties concentrating, but nevertheless pressed her attack. Through the haze that still prevented her from thinking straight, she realized two things. He was extremely strong, but definitely not skilled. The only reason she hadn't been able to get a hit in on him yet was that his mere presence diminished her fighting ability.

Their close combat continued and Ryoko's exhaustion started to overgrow the intensity of the battle. She wasn't used to fighting physically and mentally at the same time. As she wasn't quick enough to withdraw after an attack, her opponent used the opportunity to strike her down by hitting her hard in the head with the handle of his blade.

Her vision blurred as she looked up to him and she prepared herself for the killing blow. But it never came. Instead, the dark man was hit by blaster fire. Even though it didn't penetrate his force field, he still turned around, leaving Ryoko alone for the time.

"Don't you think you are overestimating yourself, boy?"

"I will not let you hurt her." Tenchi's voice held an unknown confidence.

"Interesting indeed. But maybe you should worry more about yourself." With these words, he raised his hand and Tenchi was hit by some unseen force.

The impact was hard enough to make him lose consciousness even before he hit the ground. Ryoko had watched the entire scene in terror.

"Tenchi, nooo!" She pushed herself up. "You bastard!"

With all that was left of her strength, she phased directly behind the dark man and rammed her sword through his chest. Much to her surprise he dissolved immediately. Once he was gone, she fell to her knees, wanting to check Tenchi's condition, but finding herself unable to.

"I am impressed. My studies are not doing your true powers justice," the terrifying voice spoke from everywhere and nowhere all at once. "However, it needs more than just power to defeat me."

Ryoko was struck in the back by something, making her collapse to the ground completely. The last thing she saw before consciousness started leaving her was a dark shadow appearing next to Tenchi's unmoving body.

"Tenchi," she whispered. Then the world around her was cast into blackness.

* * *

Chapter notes:

Originally it was planned for me to write most of this chapter, but since I encountered some kind of writers/language block, my sister helped out quite a bit. She wrote Tenchi and Ryoko's discussion, the part with Kagato and the very first part of the last scene. I pulled off the translations and the rest of the chapter.

Now I want to thank all those who have taken their time and written me reviews or feedback. Without your input and encouragement it wouldn't have been possible for us to write this chapter like we did. I mean to have noticed that thanks for reviews usually result in lesser reviews, but I still had to do this, because it really meant a lot to me. Just maybe you are going to prove me wrong with my theory.

Now that I'm already at it, special thanks to those who have helped me out by proof-reading: Andrew, Serathim, Georsama and Ledzepfan.

See you in the next chapter. Hopefully soon.


	12. Unstable Bonds

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of their original creators and all those affiliated with them. I have neither created them, nor do I own them. Any new characters as well as the events within this story are created by me and my sister, so they are our property. This story is written for fun and as an homage to the world of Tenchi.

* * *

Chapter 11 - Unstable Bonds

The sun had to be high up in the sky already, because Tenchi felt his face warmed by its rays. A light breeze touched his hair and made the leafs of the trees nearby mutter quietly to the wind. It was one of these rare, but still typical, sunny days of late summer on Arret. Everything seemed to be peaceful in the most natural way.

As the wind weakened and the leafs grew silent in their song, however, Tenchi discerned a sound which wasn't natural at all. It was a consistent but, at the same time, uneven noise. It didn't take him too long to connect this rhythm with an activity. Somebody was digging up the ground.

Tenchi straightened himself up and, much to his dismay, noticed two things. One, he wasn't on his home planet. There were no such endless green plains on Arret. Two, the man who was disturbing the tranquility with his shovel was wearing a Juraian uniform and there also seemed to be a couple of other people around, but Tenchi just wasn't able to make them out clearly.

Slowly he approached the digger. The man couldn't have possibly missed out on his presence, but still he ignored Tenchi dedicating his full and untiring attention to his task at hand. Anyway, he wasn't just digging up the ground, like Tenchi had first assumed. He was digging a large hole.

"What are you doing?" Tenchi asked.

The man stopped in his work, wiped the sweat from his brow and then turned to face Tenchi, who instantly realized that he knew this Juraian. The young blonde officer, however, didn't seem to recognize him.

"I'm digging a grave," he said coldly and raised the shovel once more.

"Why would you do that?" The question made it obvious that Tenchi was shocked at the answer. He had thought it impossible that death could have infiltrated a peaceful place like this.

This time the man didn't stop digging. His only answer was to point at the motionless body of an even younger officer, who Tenchi could have sworn hadn't been lying there a second ago. Then the Juraian started mumbling to himself.

"The universe isn't fair. Why does it always have to be the good guys who are killed? And by pirates no less. Marlak was such a good guy... indeed he was."

"You are Dick, right? I know you from the alpha base of Jurai. What... what has happened?" Tenchi inquired further. He had the distinctive feeling that he himself had something to do with the death of the young one.

But Dick didn't seem to have heard his question. He just shook his head sadly and whispered to no one in particular, "Someone should make the universe fair. Yes, someone should do that."

Tenchi stood there speechless for another moment, then he turned from the chilling sight. Not too far ahead of him he could now see an enormous junkyard. The dented metal parts sparkled in the sun and Tenchi wondered how this appearance could have escaped him up to now.

The closer he got, the more details became visible. All parts somehow seemed to belong to a whole. Their color was mostly identical and on some of them Tenchi was able to make out what seemed like parts of a symbol. Written on an exceptionally large metal part, right on the top of the pile of rubble, were even two giant letters. And suddenly he knew it. What he had thought a junkyard were in fact the crushed remains of a mighty flagship. Immediately after this idea had entered his mind, Tenchi's gaze returned to the ground. And he saw the chair.

He had seen this kind of chair only once or twice in his life and he had never felt any envy for those sitting on it, nor had he ever wished to sit there for himself one time. This chair had never been for him. It was the place for a leader.

Though the man, who was seated in the chair facing Tenchi, rather looked like he had just suffered a very painful loss. He was wearing a flawless GP uniform and the rank insignias on his chest and shoulders sparkled almost as remarkably as the junk in the sun.

"Commander Redruo?" Tenchi asked doubtfully. He had heard nothing of the commander since the major defeat of the third fleet over two years ago.

Redruo's posture straightened and his face, which had just been contorted with sorrow changed into an emotionless mask.

"What is your concern, young man?" he demanded slowly.

"I... uhm..." Actually Tenchi hadn't really expected the man showing a reaction to his question, so he was at a loss of words now. "... I wanted to ask the meaning of this. I mean, what has happened to the Hirazenty?" he finally managed to say.

The commander suddenly turned his chair around and slammed his hand on it with such force it made Tenchi flinch.

"Damn those pirates!" he cursed aloud and slammed again. "They destroyed everything! Damn those kids!" Then he turned back to face Tenchi and looked him directly in the eyes. "Remember one thing, officer. Never, and I mean never, trust a pirate. He will destroy everything that is your own."

"Commander, I..." Tenchi started, but Redruo had already slumped back into the chair again and it didn't seem like his words could reach the commander anymore.

From afar Tenchi heard the joyful laughter of playing kids. Whilst he approached them he knew that they were the ones Commander Redruo had cursed, even if he wasn't about to believe that they had been the ones who had wreaked havoc on the mighty flagship of the Galaxy Police.

The boys and girls chasing each other over there were no other than the descendents of Burak's gang.

"Hey, Danjo!" Tenchi addressed the eldest one of them. "Where are Burak and Landsville?"

He was hoping to get a clue as to what was going on here from the boy, but Danjo kept chasing one of the girls and simply shouted over to him, "Both dead."

Tenchi swallowed hard. "And Saira, Nana..." He was interrupted by the blonde boy, who continued the enumeration indifferently, "... Mafe, Bogly... all adults are dead."

"But why... who killed them?" Tenchi murmured shocked.

Danjo finally gave up on the girl and pointed at a desk, which was standing only a little distance away.

"It was him. It's only a matter of time until he will sign our death sentence as well. After all we are pirates too." He gave Tenchi another cheerful grin, then he chased away together with the other kids.

Tenchi kept watching them until they disappeared under the horizon, then he finally turned to the desk. The man who was sitting behind it was somewhat familiar to him as well, but right now he couldn't place him. He was wearing the insignias of a Galaxy Police admiral and seemed intensely occupied seeing through the forms towering in front of him.

"Excuse me." As the man showed no reaction Tenchi continued, "Have you killed Landsville?"

The admiral looked up from his work for a moment, then spoke, "Landsville? ... He was a member of the Burak pirate gang, right? Doesn't the name already say it? He was a pirate, so the verdict was clear."

"But... the women... you can't have just wiped out all the families?!"

The admiral looked at him with disparagement. "It is my duty as a member of the Galaxy Police to protect peace in the universe and the pirates are currently the worst threat. Being a pirate is, as you should know, no matter of sex, but of attitude, so the case is clear. What's much more difficult is this one here."

Tenchi didn't want to spend more time with this narrow-minded admiral, but his curiosity got the better of him. He bent over to take a look at the paper the man was holding out to him. Instantly he recognized the picture in the upper left corner of the form and a shiver ran down his spine. Trake.

"They say he has made some minor mistakes, but as you see he's a member of the Galaxy Police and thus innocent in the first place. Then we have to consider that he was killed by a pirate. I guess the pirate should be charged... but I have to think about it for another couple of hours, so leave me alone."

"But Trake was a criminal, he..." Tenchi started and was interrupted by a gesture from the admiral.

"Don't try to influence me. If you doubt the Galaxy Police's sanctity go to the chapel." He pointed at a stone building, which had just appeared out of thin air.

Immediately Tenchi recognized the small structure. It was the same one he had often visited together with his mother as a child. Overall there had been quite a few of these temples spread over Arret, but in the rural region he had grown up in there had been only one.

Slowly Tenchi got at crossing the distance between him and the familiar building and just like back then in his child's days he wondered who might have build this temple. At that time nobody he had asked had an answer to this question. And even now Tenchi knew only one thing for certain. The time the temple was build had been longer ago than his mind was able to comprehend.

The large cubic stones had disappeared beneath a thick layer of moss. On top of the pagoda roof were growing grass and small bushes. It was almost like the building had adjusted to its surroundings, like it had become a part of nature itself with the passage of time.

A piece of nature that was accessible by everyone. There had never been a door. So Tenchi was now standing in front of the dark hole leading to the insides of the temple.

They had ventured here to pray for a good harvest twice a year, but for Tenchi it had always been more of a tradition than something practical. This time he wasn't here in order to pray.

Hesitantly he entered the sanctuary. Compared with the outsides this was the realm of the eternal night. A single candle was standing on the altar and projected frightening shadows on the walls of stone. The light seemed to wake the runes engraved there and created the illusion of movement amongst them, much like they had become alive and now wanted to tell their ancient story.

Tenchi's steps quietly echoed through the room as he slowly headed over to the altar on the other side.

He bowed curtly, then he took one of the small sticks, which lay prepared for their purpose. As soon as he moved the tip of it into the flame of the candle it developed a soft glow and a pleasant smell registered to Tenchi's nose. With an experienced movement he let the stick slide into the corresponding fixture and inflamed a second one.

He had no idea why he was doing all of this, but he had a feeling that this was just what he had to do. Audibly he clapped his palms together in front of his chest, closed his eyes and bowed once more.

As he opened his eyes again, the room had darkened. The candle was still burning on the altar, but her light was literally sucked up by the surrounding darkness. No light nor shadow reached the borders of the room anymore.

Feeling a panic rise up within him, Tenchi turned around swiftly. In the entrance, enveloped in a mantle of alien light from outside, was standing a man.

"Welcome Tenchi!"

A shiver traveled down Tenchi's back as he heard the now familiar voice. He felt the strong urge to run away, to flee and hide, but at the same time he knew that there was no escape for him.

"I have watched you for a long time." The echo resounding from the walls added such a full deepness to the words of the dark man that for the moment Tenchi actually believed he wasn't facing a being of flesh and blood, but a god.

"Who are you?" Tenchi asked and much to his terror realized that his voice was sucked up by the darkness just like the light of the candle. His words died away almost before he had spoken them.

"Who I am has no meaning. Much more important are you and what I have to offer you."

For a second, which stretched to an eternity for Tenchi, there was silence in the small room. Then the dark man raised his voice again.

"Tenchi Masaki." Tenchi stared at him, afraid for what was to come. "I offer you power."

"Power?!" Tenchi repeated suspicious.

"Yes power. Power to change things. Do you not feel it your destiny to make the universe a more peaceful place? You fought for justice and the fair punishment of all evil, but until now your powers were limited."

Had it been someone else in another place who spoke those words to him, Tenchi would have had a hard time suppressing a fit of laughter, but these holy hall was the realm of the dark man and everything he said here was a revelation.

"What kind of power are you talking about?" he asked, carefully choosing each word.

A little smile crossed the face of the man. "You have a pure heart, Tenchi. Deep inside you know what's right and wrong. This is where your true power lies dormant. All I have to offer to you is a way to awake these powers."

Tenchi stared at the person in front of him blankly, hoping that a simpler and more concrete explanation would follow the general one. But instead of revealing anything else the dark man slowly raised his right arm and spoke, his voice leaving no place for opposition.

"So be it."

Tenchi opened his mouth, but he was unable to speak. More than ever he wanted to turn around and run away, but he had lost all control over his body. All he could do was stand there in awe, watching the man finishing his mysterious ceremony.

After only a few seconds the dark man lowered his arm again. Tenchi didn't feel any different from before, so he assumed that the ritual hadn't been completed yet. He wondered what was going to happen next.

"Now..." the booming voice rose again. "It's time for you to prove your suitability for your purpose."

He made a quick gesture and a woman appeared to his left. She was levitating slightly above the ground, her arms hanging limply at her sides, and overall she looked more like a puppet whose strings had been cut than a human being.

"You're crazy!" Tenchi shouted, trying to ignore his dark premonition at what he might be planning.

The dark man started laughing cruelly. Intensified a hundred times by the walls it sounded like the roar of thunder in Tenchi's ears.

"Is this all you want to tell me? You should thank me. Thank me for giving you the opportunity to kill her."

With a curt movement of his hand the puppet beside him was tossed forward. She landed hard on the ground and just lay there, her unconscious face turned towards Tenchi.

"Ryoko!"

Only slowly the memories returned to him. He had completely forgotten about the space pirate and their mutual past. However, even though he believed to remember everything now, it was like he viewed the past from a distance. He knew that he wasn't supposed to feel like this at all, but seeing Ryoko there sprawled out in front of him gave him a strange feeling of satisfaction and superiority.

"What have you done?" he asked desperately. But the dark man ignored his words.

"Kill her now! She has always been like a plague for the inhabitants of this galaxy. How many people has she robbed of their property? How many killed? Now is the chance to make her pay for her sins. Make her pay! You can do it."

Tenchi knew he was right. He felt the power well up inside him, willing to be released. Only a single thought of him and something terrible would happen. He tried to fight it.

"Never will I kill somebody like this," he forced out between clenched teeth.

Still, he felt that he was loosing the battle. Soon he would have to give up and let go the power that was trying to break free from him. There was no way he was going to let this happen. Never would he let this happen.

"I would rather die than kill Ryoko!" he shouted, intending to try and destroy himself with his own power.

Then suddenly the pressure he had felt from the inside disappeared.

"Very well, boy. You have mastered the test. Even with the power I gave you, your heart was not corrupted. Just like I expected." The dark man smiled mysteriously.

"Once the time arrives you will know what you have to do. And nobody will be able to stop you then... not even her."

With a movement, too quick for Tenchi's eyes to follow, the dark man lifted his hand. The next instant a glowing red ball of energy was fired and burned Ryoko's body to ashes.

"Nooo!" Tenchi shouted, then everything around him went dark and cold.

* * *

Total darkness. That was the first thing that registered to her mind as it finally returned from the depths of unconsciousness. For a terrible moment she was without memory and orientation, driving her to the verge of panic. Then the memories came rushing back in all at once and the natural fear for the darkness was replaced with an entirely different terror.

She hadn't been able to protect Tenchi. This lunatic, in lack of a better name Ryoko decided to just call him Shade from now on, had struck her down with ease. Slowly it dawned on her that she had made a mistake judging his combat skill. What she had taken for a lack of ability had in fact been a matter of attitude. No need to fight seriously when you know that you are invincible anyway.

Carefully, as to not fall victim to the dizziness that sometimes accompanied recovery from unconsciousness, inflicted by injuries, Ryoko rose from the cold steel that was the floor. Although she knew about the regenerative abilities of her body, she was still a little surprised that there wasn't any pain. Not often had someone succeeded in striking her down with a single blow and she had somewhat expected it to have after effects, but there was nothing.

Ryoko looked around, only to find herself unable to pierce the darkness. She quickly remedied this situation by forming a ball of glowing energy in her right hand and holding it out in front of her. The little sight the light of the globe provided was enough to prove her assumption. She was still in the same place where she had been struck down, only that the holographic environment had been deactivated, returning the hall to its original gloomy state.

"Tenchi! Are you here? Answer me!" She held on to the hope of an answer, though she didn't really expect one. And of course she didn't get one, not even an echo of her own words. It was almost like they were completely sucked up by the insatiable darkness.

"Tenchi," she murmured again. Any thoughts of retrieving the holy book were gone from her mind. She had been defeated and thus failed to prevent Tenchi from being captured by Shade. Ryoko didn't even want to think about what crazy experiments he might just be conducting on Tenchi.

And she wasn't able to do anything about it. She had no idea of where to find them and by the time she had searched through the entire ship it was likely that there wasn't much left of Tenchi to rescue. Even if she did find them, what was she supposed to do? As much as it pained her she had to accept that there was no way she could defeat Shade, he was just too powerful. Ryoko had no idea on how to deal with such a concept, because it was completely alien to her. The last time she had felt that lost and helpless had been ages ago during the time of her planetary prison and she had hoped to never have to live through that feeling again.

She was just about to cry out in frustration as she felt something. It was a wave of power, faint, but still strong enough for her to realize its nature. It was the same feeling she had back then as she first met Tenchi and he teleported them both away and as he had freed himself from Trake's grasp. It was his power. Tenchi was in danger.

Without a second thought she launched herself into the air, heading directly for the source of the energy pike. After no more than a second the ceiling of the huge hall started reflecting the light of her energy globe, but Ryoko didn't slow down her flight. For a second it almost seemed like she was going to crash into the obstacle at full speed, but then she passed right through it.

Phasing through the following extensive metal construction she threw any caution to the wind and kept increasing her speed until she couldn't go any faster. If she collided with a solid obstacle like an energy barrier at this speed, she knew she would get seriously hurt.

Rooms passed in the blink of an eye as Ryoko made her way directly through the ship. From the little she was able to catch of it not the entire ship was as dark and gloomy as the section they had boarded in. There were some rooms which were lit bright as the day and some of them were even bustling with activity of various robots doing their assigned tasks. But all the time she didn't see a single person. It almost seemed like Shade was really running this entire ship on his own.

Of course Ryoko didn't really care about any of this. Her mind was occupied with a couple of other things. Tenchi's energy signature hadn't completely vanished, like it immediately had the other two times, but was very weak now in comparison to the pike she had felt before. If she didn't knew what she was looking for, she would have had difficulties focusing on it. Fortunately she was rapidly closing in on the source, so it was easier to trace with every second.

As she realized that she was only instants from reaching Tenchi's location, she noticed for the first time that there was no trace of Shade's terrible power. However, she was well aware that this didn't necessarily mean that he wasn't there, waiting for her.

Then she phased through another metal construction and reached her destination. It was a medium sized room that somewhat reminded of an out of date alchemistic research chamber. There was no light provided by the ceiling or the walls, like one would expect in a spaceship, but instead two candles gave off their flickering glow from atop a wooden desk in the right corner of the room. Around it, in a half circle, were shelves of books and there was even one of them lying open on the desk in between the candles.

"That fits him," Ryoko mumbled and turned around to take a look at the other side of the room. The sight she met there was so horrible, it made her freeze.

Over there, in the left corner of the chamber, was Tenchi. He was suspended in mid-air and connected to some kind of machine. His arms were spread wide slightly above his head and held in place by strong metal buckles, as were his feet and his head. The sleeves of his pirate outfit were ripped of at the shoulders and various tubes and cables pierced his arms.

Then, just as Ryoko thought it couldn't get any worse, her gaze met Tenchi's face. His eyes were wide open, but rolled back in what seemed to be a strange kind of half-consciousness. She wouldn't have thought it possible, but much to her horror she was still able to read his expression. It was one of terrible pain. Whatever this machine did to him, he was going through hell.

Ryoko forced herself out of her paralysis and approached Tenchi. It was hard to fight back the urge to rush to his side and free him from his misery immediately, but she feared that this might hurt him even more.

As she came closer she realized that she had been right. There was no way she could disconnect Tenchi from the machine without the risk to seriously hurt him. The most gruesome sight had been hidden behind his head until she had come into arms reach of him. A thin needle of a transparent material extended from the machine and penetrated the back of his head. She couldn't see how deep it went, but it gave her a better idea of why he was in so much pain.

A cold shiver run down her spine. Maybe Shade was trying to manipulate Tenchi's brain, just like he had with his other specimen. If this was true, severing the connection by force might mean putting Tenchi's sanity at stake. Then again there might not be much left of it anyway. Ryoko felt herself at the verge of desperation. She had found Tenchi, but she was unable to help him. At a loss for other options she did the only thing she could think of at the moment.

"Tenchi!" She tried to speak his name softly but clearly at the same time, forcing down her growing fear for this first and last attempt. "Do you hear me?"

Much to her surprise Tenchi reacted to her words by shifting slightly against his hold, giving a soft moan. Then, as if his movement had been a sign, the needle started retracting from his head. Ryoko was delighted that maybe she might be able to free Tenchi after all and shocked at the same time at how deeply the machine seemed to have penetrated his head. She just hoped that it wasn't too late.

As soon as the connection was completely severed, Ryoko's hands moved with lightning speed, ripping off the metal buckles which held Tenchi in place by brute force. Most of the tubes and cables came off by themselves as he slowly slumped down and the rest was utterly destroyed by the pirate. Strangely the wounds left on Tenchi's arms didn't seem to be too deep, since they almost didn't bleed at all. Of course Ryoko was much too occupied trying to get a hold of him as to pay it a second thought. She carefully shifted him into a sitting position against the machine. His eyes were closed now and his expression had calmed down somewhat, though it was still far from peaceful.

"Are you awake, Tenchi?" she asked with unconcealed concern.

She only got another moan as an answer, then Tenchi mumbled something incoherently and for a second she almost meant that she had heard him speaking her name, but she wasn't sure.

Ryoko wasted another second contemplating on if she should give it another try, but finally came to the conclusion that he was totally out of it, so it probably wouldn't be any use. In a swift but kind motion she lifted Tenchi up and placed him over her shoulder. She knew that it might be dangerous to transport him like this in his condition, but they had to get out of there as fast as possible.

Exactly in this moment another terrible realization struck her. She had know idea of where to go. All the time she had only thought about rescuing Tenchi and now that she had saved him from Shade's machine it dawned on her that she hadn't even memorized the way she had taken to get here. Not that it would have done her any good anyway, because there was a good chance that Tenchi wouldn't be able to take the stress of prolonged phasing or teleportation and she wasn't going to take the risk. So she was left with only one option. The single door leading out of the room opposite from where she had entered.

As she crossed the chamber in order to reach what she hoped was the exit, her eyes once again fell on the book which was lying open on the desk. It was only now that she noticed that there wasn't anything written in it. The pages were completely empty. A sudden strong feeling of curiosity and strange fascination forced her to change her course and step up to the desk in order to take a closer look.

Not about to believe that someone would go through the effort of making a book that had nothing written in it Ryoko reached out and leafed through a couple of pages. The result was always the same. She didn't find a single word written on them.

Then she noticed the wooden cover and the broken seal on the book and it struck her like lightning. This was what the had come for in the first place, the holy book of Jurai. But why was there nothing written in it. Ryoko was more than a little confused.

Unable to find another reasonable explanation she finally decided that the ancient Juraians had probably written with some kind of secret ink, which would only become visible under certain conditions. She was going to try some of them later, but for now she had to make sure that a later was going to exist for them.

But before she grabbed the book with her free hand and hurriedly left the room with Tenchi over her shoulder, she turned around once more and obliterated Shade's machine with a powerful energy blast. Maybe this would at least cause him a little trouble.

Behind the door was a short connection passage. Its cold and sterile light instantly banished the flicking glow of the candles behind even before the door had closed completely. Ryoko hovered through the corridor just above the floor, trying to keep Tenchi as still as possible. Obviously it wasn't enough, because they had only crossed half of the passage as Tenchi started to stir.

"Ryoko?"

The pirate's surprise was little short of shock as he suddenly spoke her name. But it wasn't so much about the fact that he had spoken it as about how he had spoken it. His voice had been thick and trembling with fear, making her feel the strong urge to calm him somehow.

"Yes, I'm here," she answered in a comforting voice.

"Are you alright?"

Ryoko was perplexed. Why did he ask this? He was the one who had been hurt. But from the sound of his voice, the answer to this question was really important to him. She couldn't help a warm feeling spreading through her body at his obvious concern.

"Yes Tenchi, I'm fine. And I'm going to get you out of here."

"That's good."

After he had spoken these words Tenchi's body relaxed again and Ryoko could tell that he had finally lost his consciousness. What was this all about? Hopefully she would get a chance to ask him later.

She reached the door at the other end of the corridor and it opened to reveal yet another chamber of enormous proportions. Or at least Ryoko thought that it was enormous. From her point of view she couldn't see any boundaries, not even a ceiling. The room was dark, but not entirely so. As she entered, it almost seemed as if her body started to produce its own light, glowing in the darkness. All of this gave her a strange feeling of deja-vu.

Ryoko carefully levitated away from the door, a little deeper into the hall. Her eyes narrowed as she spotted a faint glimmer in the distance, which she knew hadn't been there a second ago. She knew that she would eventually get lost in the dark vault of the ship, but she didn't have any choice. Making sure that she had a good hold of Tenchi, Ryoko increased her speed and headed for the mysterious light in the distance.

--

After a couple of minutes the light had grown more intense and then, all of a sudden, the silhouette of a space ship had peeled out of the darkness in front of her. Now she stood there, staring at the huge ship in awe. Ryoko had seen many things in her life, but right now the ship in front of her was easily one of the most beautiful ones. It restored her strength and determination much like a missing part of her that had been restored. And actually that was just what had happened. The Souja had finally been returned to her master.

Unfortunately the reunification was overshadowed by some nagging doubts that came to Ryoko's consciousness. This had been entirely too easy. First she found Tenchi and the holy book in the same chamber and now the Souja right beside. Of course she wasn't going to complain, but she couldn't help the dark feeling that maybe this was exactly what Shade had planned for her to find. Or maybe she had just been really lucky.

Anyway, she wasn't going to pass up this chance. Mumbling a silent apology to Tenchi she teleported them both aboard.

After everything she had experienced in the last couple of hours, the fact that the bridge of her ship was just like she had left it weeks ago failed to surprise Ryoko. She carefully placed Tenchi in the co-pilot's chair, where she could keep an eye on him, stored the book away for now and seated herself.

Up to now things had worked out just fine and now was the time to think up a neat escape plan. Not exactly something Ryoko was good at. Not wanting to waste any time she decided that an extreme situation called for extreme measures. Something Ryoko was good at.

A quick system check told her that all systems were perfectly fine. If she hadn't been convinced that this was more than a little too lucky, now she was. Well, it was nice of him to show her the way to her ship, so she needed to repay him at least a little. She activated the weapons.

--

The ship was drifting through space like a dark bug. Only few would have even considered messing with a ship of such proportions. It was scary and majestic at the same time. A dark manifestation of perfection. But even if it came close, perfection didn't necessarily mean invincibility.

Without warning an enormous explosion ripped open the ugly back of the bug. A small red parasite had penetrated the large ship's armor from the inside and used the opening to escape into the unlimited freedom of space. Of course the bug didn't give chase. After all, the wound was nothing to worry about and why should it care about a mere parasite?

* * *

Thick white wisps of steam rose up between the shadows of the high trees. The pale light of the moon was fractured in the minute water-droplets and blurred the contours of the leafless tree giants. It almost seemed like the plants were moving amongst themselves in a ghostly manner.

No higher life form had managed to adapt to the life in the eternal darkness and the almost absolute silence that reigned this eerie place. Only now and then an irregular deep bubbling sound was to be heard.

In the middle of the darkness, in the dead forest, there was a small, brightly reflective surface. Not enough light pierced the thick fog, which seemed to accumulate above the water's surface, to even create as much as a clear reflection of the shining moon. The large rising air bubbles, which freed themselves of their watery coat with a deep ▒pop', however, were still clearly visible.

Those sounds took away some of the creepiness of the place and the sheer existence of clear water gave the misty wood an almost mystic beauty.

The young woman, who stepped out of the darkness between the trees, was one of the few who knew about all of this. Slowly she approached the water up to only a few feet, then stopped. For a moment it seemed like she was trying to pierce the fog with her gaze, then she started taking off her clothes.

With a quick movement she threw back the hood of her coat, opened it's clasps and let the heavy fabric slowly slide off her shoulders. Instantly she felt the warm and moist air on her skin. Her flawless body was reflected by the water's surface, but she paid no attention to the image, which was distorted from time to time by rising bubbles.

Without haste she got rid of her high boots and placed them next to the coat. The ground beneath her feet was smoothened by mineral secretion, so the young woman moved only very slowly and carefully.

Her bare feet entered the wet element and she felt the pleasant warmth of the water rise up her thighs. As the warm liquid reached her navel, the young woman halted her entry and lowered her upper body. The water closed above her breasts, rose up to her neck and remained at that level. She took a deep breath of the humid air and closed her eyes in relaxation.

Suddenly she felt something wrap around her belly. The only reason she was able to suppress a terrified scream was that deep inside her, she knew that there was only one living being which could possibly scare her in this place.

"Stop that, Yosho!" she said and tried to take his arm off her waist.

But instead of letting her go, Yosho pulled her even closer. As soon as she felt his warm body against her back, she gave up her resistance and allowed him to put his other arm around her as well.

"I though you would be late again," she stated impassively.

"Obviously you were wrong," Yosho whispered in her ear.

"Maybe," Ayeka responded in much the same manner, but then continued in a more interested voice. "So what is the reason behind this meeting? Don't tell me that you have acquired it."

Yosho remained silent for several seconds as if he had to think of an appropriate answer first, then he spoke up, "The book is not yet in our possession, but I know, that it will find it's way to us very soon already."

Although this basically was good news, Ayeka frowned. Yosho would never reveal his source of knowledge, but she knew that there was someone helping them behind the scenes. Someone who possessed a frightening amount of influence on Yosho. The words he had spoken, were his.

"So who of us is going to win?" she asked in a faked challenging tone.

Yosho pulled her in just a little closer. "You know that it doesn't really matter, darling. Once we hold the book in our hands and finally have access to the knowledge within, both of us will have won."

"You are right," Ayeka said slowly, rested her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes. "We will find the means to prove ourselves as the true heirs to the throne at last. And then we will deal with Azusa, pay him back everything he did to us a tenfold." Her voice was filled with hatred as painful memories rose up again.

"We will," he agreed. "And the people of Jurai will see the birth of a new Juraian empire, under the sole rule of Empress Ayeka..."

"... and Emperor Yosho," Ayeka finished his sentence and allowed herself a fit of high-pitched laughter.

"A marvellous plan indeed," she added after a while. "I hope we will proceed with it soon."

"No doubt about that," Yosho replied and kissed his future empress.

Thick wisps of white steam covered the young pair and only a low bubbling sound broke through the eternal silence of the spring now and then.

* * *

It was a day just like every other one and Rex, a big Araian Bloodhound with shaggy green fur, was lying on the dirty floor, dozing. Suddenly his hairy ears took up on a suspicious sound. He raised his head, looked at the door with big red eyes and started growling.

"Be quiet, Rex!" said the man, who was sitting beside the dog, behind some kind of dilapidated desk. He placed the data pad he had just dealt with away, brushed his face with the dirty sleeve of his shirt, then looked at the door curiously.

The door was thrown open too forcefully to sound her displeasure with the usual creaking. Rex gave a short bark before he lost interest and laid himself down again, bored. The slim figure, who had just entered, headed directly for the grubby shop owner.

"I hope everything is ready."

The figure was wearing a long dark coat, with the head hidden under a hood and a black cloth wound over the lower part of the face.

"Everything is prepared...," the man answered. "... provided that you have the rest of the sum with you."

The piercing red orbs of the hooded one stared at him for a moment, then a small bag found its way to the table.

"Hmm..." the shop owner furrowed his brow suspiciously and took the bag. The sound of it's interior didn't resemble at all that of coins, credit chips or some other metal means of payment. He brushed the desk clean of dust and small junk with his sleeve. Then he opened the bag and poured out its contents.

"My god!" he couldn't help to mutter at the sight of all the thumb nail sized gems. There had to be hundreds of them and none of them resembled the others. Some shimmered in red, others in violet or dark blue. The only thing they had in common was that they were all cut perfectly.

The man rummaged through one of the shelves behind him for a second and then presented the eyepiece to his customer almost triumphantly. "Let's see if they are of an appropriate value."

He examined one of the stones through the eyepiece. An incredulous expression found its way to his face.

"Any problems with the stuff?" the visitor asked, not bothering to hide his impatience at this delay.

But the owner didn't answer and instead examined two more pieces. Then he placed his tool aside and eyed his customer, much like he was seeing him in a new light now.

"I will be damned if these are not diamonds from the Jacaria mine. The mine has been closed over a year ago, so where did you get such an amount of them?" he asked, unable to completely suppress the amazement in his voice.

"That's none of your business. Where's my ship?" the visitor answered rudely.

"Okay, okay." The man raised the hands in an appeasing gesture and then carefully maneuvered the stones over the edge of the table back into the bag. Finally he took a data pad out of the smudgy lot of them and activated it.

"Just as you wished it's a small and fast ship with above average firepower. You will definitely not regret this purchase." He typed away at the pad some more, then he continued. "The ship's waiting for you in docking bay two, upper hangar. Here's the owner card. Oh, and better not use it to fly near the Galian system." He cleared his throat nervously and threw the small chip on the table in front of the buyer.

Just as the card had vanished into the coat of the customer, Rex straightened up again, made a deep howling sound and trotted over towards the door.

"Good timing," said the man behind the desk. "Perhaps it's him."

The door was opened and a wiry man stepped inside. As his eyes fell on the stranger, he regarded the shop owner with a questioning glance.

"Long time no see," the owner smiled. "How's business, Burak?"

Burak had stopped directly behind the door. He didn't answer. The dog had meanwhile placed himself next to him on the ground.

"Oh, don't worry." The man nodded into the direction of the hooded one, whose gaze was fixed on the wiry man. "He's just a customer, who wanted to talk to you."

"Is that so?" Burak said simply and walked a couple more steps into the room. "Who are you?" he asked the cloaked figure.

After some moments of silence, he got an answer. "I know that you have to be very careful who you do dealings with currently. But rest assured that I wish no ill to you and your pirates. I just want to know something about a young man called Masaki."

In case the request of the stranger surprised Burak, he hid it well. He turned towards the shop owner and asked, "Know any place where we can talk?"

"Oh... well..." It was impossible to overhear his disappointment. "Use my storage area." He gestured towards a shabby curtain at the back of the room. "It's not exactly tidy there, but you can talk there undisturbed," he added with a smile.

"Let's go then. I've still a lot of other business to attend here," Burak said.

The cloaked one nodded and they both went to the storage area, followed only by a trotting Rex.

--

Over half an hour later the three of them returned to the office. Burak's face had taken on a thoughtful expression, but the hooded one seemed as like he had learned what he wanted to know. Without another word he left the small shop.

"Strange guy," the shop owner murmured to himself after the door had closed behind him.

Burak looked at him, surprised at his ignorance. "That was Nagi. Don't tell me you didn't figure that out."

"That was... Nagi?!" the man gasped. "Nagi, the former space pirate and bounty hunter? The one you just set free a couple of days ago?"

"Exactly."

"But what did she want from you? Certainly she didn't just want to say thanks for her freedom."

"I'm not really sure what she is up to. She wanted to know everything about Ryoko's new partner and his relation to her. But..." Burak stopped in mid-sentence, much like he had realized that this was not the right place to voice his thoughts. He decided that it was about time to return to the original cause for his visit. "Let's talk about your offer of some well preserved GP patroller spare parts."

* * *

At first there was only light. A wall of white blocking his return to the conscious world. Then the light slowly ebbed away and monochrome contours started peeling out. Finally he found himself in a toneless world of black and white. His mind had woken together with his eyes, but it needed more time to take up its usual routine, so he wasn't yet able to tell where or even who he was.

Next the sound and color returned to his world all at once, flooding his recovering senses with information. Unfortunately he had no chance to interpret any of it, because this was the moment the pain returned, or better, the moment he became aware that he was in pain. It was a pounding headache on a scale he had never felt it before. A groan escaped his lips.

"Tenchi! You're awake!"

Although his pain intensified at the excited voice of the woman, it was enough to restore most of his basic memory. He was Tenchi Masaki, former member of the Galaxy Police, fallen to become a half-pirate. The beautiful woman with the look of mixed worry and relief on her face, who had suddenly appeared in front of him, was Ryoko, the pirate who had caused his fall. His mind was filled up with more detailed memories by the seconds, making him groan again in exhaustion.

"Are you alright, Tenchi?" Ryoko's worry seemed to be about to win out over relief.

"What... happened...?" It took a lot of concentration for him to speak the words, but to his surprise the pain and confusion receded somewhat after he had spoken them.

"Shade had captured you and connected you to some machine. You had me worried," Ryoko explained to him, thankfully in a calmer voice.

Tenchi searched his newfound memory, but to no avail. He was unable to place the name Ryoko had mentioned.

"Shade?" he asked, finding that his voice had regained some strength.

Ryoko looked confused at his inquiry for a moment, then it dawned on her.

"Oh, I mean the guy who took the book from me. I thought I better gave him a name."

Tenchi remembered that they had fought the guy in some strange place and that was when he had lost consciousness. But strangely there were fragments of his memory after his collapse. Probably from some kind of dream. The Hirazenty had been there and Admiral Marunak and... him. Actually it didn't feel like a dream at all, but he was still unable to discern exactly what it had been about. He shuddered. Shade. It really was a fitting name.

Tenchi gave a slow nod, then he carefully moved his head to take a look at his surroundings. The movement was easier than he had expected and the pain diminished once more. By now it had lessened to no more than an unpleasant throbbing in the back of his head. With a renewed clarity of thought he examined his current situation. It was not until then that he realized that they were neither on the Yagami nor the Yukinojo. No, this was definitely the bridge of Ryoko's ship, the Souja. Obviously the pirate had somehow managed to retrieve her ship and get them out of there. This brought him to another terrible realization and as Ryoko just kept studying him with curiosity he voiced it in a question.

"What about the pilot of the Yukinojo?"

"What about him?" Ryoko's confusion at the unexpected change of topic was obvious.

"Well, where is he?" Although he knew it was unreasonable, Tenchi felt anger welling up inside him at her ignorance.

"Right where we left him of course. Why care?"

"You mean you left him to this lunatic, just like that?" Tenchi asked, his voice thick with accusation.

Ryoko was taken aback. She had just freed him from the clutches of a madman and all he cared about was the fate of some random GP. No relief, no gratitude? She found it hard to control herself faced with the unreasonable blame he put on her.

"I didn't exactly have the time to care about him. You're lucky that I managed to find you and the Souja. And I think you would be better off worrying about your own health."

"I'm fine," Tenchi stated defiantly.

"I don't think so."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing."

Silence fell. After Ryoko had returned to her place and they had just sat there for a while, Tenchi used the time to try and get a hold of his emotions by analysing the situation in more detail. A casual look at the view screen told him that they were travelling through hyperspace, leading him to the question of where exactly they were headed. However, he wasn't in the mood for another discussion with Ryoko right now, so he just ignored it for the time.

He caught a side glance at the pirate and noticed that she had a huge tome in her lap. It was not much like her to study a book of this kind and once again Tenchi found his curiosity peeked. Feeling not as great a risk for an argument he dared to ask.

"What's that?" He pointed at the tome.

Ryoko seemed a little surprised at the sudden question, because she looked at him with a frown. Then she caught his meaning and the frown disappeared.

"This here..." she slammed the book shut. "... is the holy book of Jurai."

It took a moment for the words to register to Tenchi's mind. Then, "What!?"

"It's no big deal. I found it in Shade's torture chamber. There is nothing written in it anyway, or at least if there is, it's impossible to read." She phased directly beside Tenchi with the book, startling him. "Here, take a look for yourself."

He carefully took the tome from her, after all this was no less than a holy treasure of the most powerful empire in the galaxy. It was not as heavy as it looked even though the cover seemed to be made entirely of wood. The Juraians truly were exceptional people.

As Tenchi studied the intricate design on the front and back, Ryoko returned to her seat, knowing that after he had satisfied his curiosity he would eventually come to the same result as her.

After he had awed at the cover for full minutes, Tenchi slowly opened the book. Suddenly it seemed to weight a ton, almost as if it was trying to deny him access like this. He held his breath as the first page finally revealed itself to him. Nothing happened. No ancient power was set free, no booming voice reprimanded him for his invasion. The page was empty.

Unwilling to believe in such deception he leafed through the book and looked at random pages. All with the same result. All empty. Only the weathered wood of the ancient paper. Finally he gave up and left the book lying open in his lap.

"See, I told you so," Ryoko couldn't help to comment.

Tenchi realized that he had hoped to discover something she hadn't, to maybe get a look at one of Jurai's greatest mysteries. Never before had he felt such a desire and now he scolded himself for it. It wasn't his place to pry into the affairs of Jurai.

Then he absently caught another glance at the book and his eyes almost bulged out. The page he had opened randomly before was now glowing with a strange light and there was movement on it. Under his incredulous gaze archaic symbols made entirely of golden light moved and finally took their fixed place. The letters immediately caught Tenchi in an hypnotic spell. He felt like the writing was calling out to him, inviting him to read and learn the truth hidden within. And in fact some of the symbols of old made sense to him. They addressed a knowledge hidden deep within his mind, which was as archaic as the letters themselves and could only be awakened by its kind. It wasn't enough to decipher the writings, but it made him focus his attention on a certain passage. There were three symbols which seemed to glow brighter than the rest and they held his eyes with a compelling power. As he focused in on them even more the rest of the text and the world around him started to fade away. Then he suddenly knew the meaning of those symbols. It was a name, the name of a goddess.

"Tsunami..." Tenchi murmured.

"Huh?" The world returned and he finally managed to break away from the text.

He looked over at Ryoko, who in turn looked at him with a mixture of surprise and suspicion. That was strange, because he would have expected her to be more interested in the glowing set of runic symbols he had discovered. His brows pulled together into a frown and he was about to ask a matching question, but then decided otherwise. It appeared almost as like she wasn't able to see what he saw. If that was true, he thought, it might be a good idea to keep his discovery to himself for now. He had no wish to get into even more trouble than he was currently in.

Ryoko, meanwhile, interpreted his behavior the wrong way. "Are you sure you are alright? It's still some time ▒till we reach our destination. Maybe you better rest up a little."

"Thanks for your concern, but I think I'll manage." Tenchi hated himself for the harshness in which he spoke these words, but he was still upset about her careless attitude concerning others and on top of it he was nervous that she might notice something.

Thankfully Ryoko left it at giving him a look that made clear what she thought of this response and then returned her attention to the panel in front of her.

Once again Tenchi withstood the urge to ask her what their destination was exactly. Wherever it was, there was no way for him to talk her out of it and he would find out soon enough anyway.

Nobody made another attempt at conversation for the rest of the trip. Tenchi tried to decipher some more of the ancient writing, carefully, as to not draw too much attention, but without success.

--

"We're there," Ryoko stated simply as the Souja left hyperspace.

Although Tenchi had somewhat expected that they were headed here all along, he still felt a world crush down inside himself at the sight of the remarkable space station. He had hoped that Ryoko would head directly for Jurai space. Maybe if they had returned the book they may have been pardoned by the empire and Ryoko would have stopped being a pirate. It was a private fantasy he had been maintaining for some time already. But that was all it was... a fantasy. And now he finally had to accept that it would never become reality.

"Let's go," the pirate spoke and held out her hand expectantly.

Tenchi didn't find it within himself to resist anymore after reality had so cruelly caught up with him. He resigned to his fate and took her hand.

This time Ryoko had decided to take the risk and teleport directly inside. It was unlikely that Washu had relocated her lab since their last encounter and she didn't want to test Tenchi's hesitant cooperation by running through the station in search for the lab for hours. She closed her eyes in silent prayer and they both disappeared.

"Uhm... Ryoko... what's wrong?"

Only as Tenchi spoke those words to her she realized that she had kept her eyes closed tightly in anticipation even after they had reappeared at their destination. A wave of embarrassment rolled through her and she quickly opened her eyes, only to find herself in the place she knew so well, yet disliked so much.

Washu, just as always, sat on a floating cushion, typing away at some terminal in front of them. Ryoko felt Tenchi stir beside her at the sight of the scientist and as she looked at him, she found that he was wearing a dark frown. She wondered what had happened between him and Washu to make him so upset, as he was normally such an easygoing guy.

"Hey Washu!! You have guests!" she called out rudely.

No reaction.

Not about to participate in one of the scientist's silly games again Ryoko stepped up behind her, intending to grab her roughly at the shoulder and whirl her around. Of course it didn't work out like this. Her hand went right through Washu's shoulder, making her stumble and almost fall. She heard Tenchi chuckle behind her and then the distinctive sound of a trans-dimensional portal.

"Oh, I see you have already made acquaintance with my new holographic work drone."

Ryoko turned around slowly, trying to restore some of her lost dignity.

"I swear I'm going to get you for this sometime, Washu," she threatened and the scientist smiled a challenge, which she decided to ignore.

"But right now I need you to do me a favor." She couldn't help these words coming out more like an order than a request.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. You want me to take a look at the holy book, tell you what it's all about and so on. So where is it already? I don't have all day, you know."

Even though she sometimes couldn't stand her, Washu never failed to amaze Ryoko with her quick perception of what was going on. After she had stood there for a moment, dumbfounded, she was about to hand the book to Washu, as she realized that Tenchi had never returned it to her.

"Tenchi!" she called.

Tenchi flinched. He knew that this was the moment his fate was decided. Handing the book to Washu would mean to betray his ideals, which was what he thought a pirate would do. But it would also mean to stay true to Ryoko and suddenly this thought held a strange temptation. He remembered the offer she had made him so long ago. "Why don't you want to do this with me, Tenchi? By now, everybody takes you for my partner anyway, so why not just make it come true?"

"Tenchi."

The word was like a spell. He couldn't resist her. He... he...

Then suddenly he heard a voice and the spell was broken. It was like the book itself was calling out to him. "Tsunami..." it whispered into his ear. This one word filled him with confidence and defiance just like Ryoko speaking his name had drained it from him before.

"No," he said barely audible and clutched the book tightly.

Washu looked at him with curiosity and Ryoko's face bore a look of mixed surprise and anger.

"What did you say?" she asked, although she had heard him quite well.

"I said no. I won't hand over the book," Tenchi stated again, more resolutely this time.

Ryoko's expression darkened at the same rate as Washu's brightened.

"You can't mean that." The pirate was still clawing to the hope that he was playing some kind of joke on her.

"But I do. The book needs to be returned to Jurai. It doesn't belong here."

That, however, wasn't what the book was telling him. It was telling him that it belonged to him and him alone. But he wasn't going to let his greed get the better of him. He wasn't going to let himself be influenced anymore. He was going to do the right thing.

"You must have totally lost it if you think I will just return the book to Jurai after all we went through to get it." She laughed, but it was more of nervousness than anything else. "Now give me the book or I will have to take it!"

"Then you will have to take it." He didn't know which devil was riding him to speak those words, but now it was too late to take them back and he wouldn't have done so anyway.

Ryoko harshly pushed past Washu and planted herself in front of Tenchi.

"You don't know what you are doing," she snarled dangerously.

"Oh yes I do."

Then her hand shot out to grab the book with the speed of lightning. Still, Tenchi was faster. Both of them stared down at where he had intercepted her assault by grabbing her arm at the wrist, Ryoko with an expression that verged on shock and Tenchi with slight surprise. Finally the pirate recovered and tore free her arm. She growled and this time tried a full body assault on Tenchi. But he simply sidestepped her, sending her stumbling once again.

Unbeknownst to them Washu had watched the whole exchange in silence, but with great interest. And she had an even greater idea on how to use this situation to her advantage.

"Now, now. No need to get barbaric right away. Why don't you decide this matter in a more civilized manner?"

Ryoko, who had by now regained her footing, did her best to control her temper. With modest results.

"And how would that be?"

"Well, with a duel of course!" Washu shouted enthusiastically.

Tenchi felt himself flinch again and wondered what exactly was so civilized about a duel.

"You mean with guns?" he could already see himself fall to the ground, his chest burned by blaster fire.

"Of course not. I mean a duel to prove who is the stronger fighter. No weapons, no special powers. Just a battle of strength, speed and skill. What do you say?"

"You must be joking," Tenchi stated gravely.

"I accept," Ryoko was quick to announce.

Now he was in a fit. If he objected, Washu might turn on him as well and then the book would be lost. If he agreed, he would be beaten to a pulp by Ryoko and the book would be lost as well. Truly a difficult decision. But he had started this and now he had to go through with it to the very end, bearing all consequences.

"Do I have your word?" he asked thoughtfully.

"My word as a scientist. It's going to be a fair fight." Washu didn't even try to hide her eagerness at the idea.

Tenchi looked at Ryoko, who returned his look defiantly. Under her gaze he couldn't help to feel like a traitor.

"My word as a pirate," she finally mumbled.

"Very well, so let's start right away. Please place the book over there for the time, Tenchi. Nothing will happen to it until the end of the battle," Washu instructed.

Tenchi had a sinking feeling in his stomach as he placed the book on the small table Washu had pointed at. At least it didn't call out to him again as he retracted his hands from it.

Washu summoned up a holotop and started entering commands hurriedly. "You will now be transported to my virtual arena."

Before any one of them could voice their objections there was a flash of light and as their momentary blindness decreased, they found themselves in a very strange place. At first Tenchi thought that they had been transported right into the middle of a space nebula. There were transparent veils shimmering in all different kinds of color complete with stars shining through them here and there. It was the perfect replica of a nebula, except that there seemed to be air to breath here and some strange kind of gravity. Although the room had no discernible ground, his sense of balance was not disturbed. Tenchi felt as steady on his feet as ever, if not more. Like it or not, he had to pay Washu respect. This was really an impressive arena. A little distracting, but impressive.

"Okay, the rules are easy. You have to remain on your feet and your feet only. The one who gets pushed to the ground first will loose the duel. I'll be judge of course. Begin whenever you are ready."

By the way she was speaking Tenchi couldn't help but to think that maybe she was taking her role as announcer a little too serious. Then he concentrated on the matters at hand and on Ryoko who was standing a little distance away from him. However, she didn't seem like she was going to attack anytime soon.

"What the hell 's gotten into you? You can't have possibly expected me to return the book to Jurai all along." She still didn't know what to make of his sudden hostility.

"No, I guess I didn't. Maybe it was just that I didn't realize the true importance of the book up to our encounter with Shade." He mentally cursed. That had come out entirely wrong.

"The true importance of the book?" Ryoko's eyes narrowed. "So that's it! You want to take the book for yourself!"

The accusation struck Tenchi hard, all the more for it was partially true.

"No, I didn't mean it like this. I..."

He was interrupted by the pirate. "Yes you did. Perhaps you even conspired with Shade?"

"That's nonsense!" Tenchi tried to defend himself against the accusations born from disappointment and betrayal.

"Maybe it is, but it doesn't matter. You are not going to get the book anyway. Get ready!"

That was it. There was no chance to avoid the fight anymore, so Tenchi did the only thing left for him to do and tried to prepare for her attack mentally and physically. Ryoko got into a combat stance he didn't recognize, but that was not surprising, since his knowledge of the martial art was limited to what they had taught at the academy. Her approximately 500 years of combat experience were only one of the advantages she held over him.

He considered going into the offense right away, but decided that it was too risky, so he waited for her to come at him. And she did. Letting out some of her pent up emotions in a battle cry, she charged at him and before long they were locked in combat.

Tenchi found it surprisingly easy to block or dodge the attacks she threw at him. That was until it dawned on him that she was only scouting him out. Doing battle without knowing your opponents abilities was foolish. Someone had told him that long ago. Much to his own surprise he blocked a very swift combination of punches. Doing battle without knowing your own abilities was suicide. And it was obvious that he had misjudged his abilities. Not so much of a mistake in this case, since they seemed to be greater than he had expected. He decided and try to use her scouting to test out his own power before they would enter the real battle.

--

"Incredible!"

Washu was watching the whole scene in awe on her holoscreen, collecting data about the combatants all the time. But it was Tenchi, who held her attention most of the time.

"He's able to draw from his power, even though he doesn't even know that he has it. That's fantastic."

Suddenly she felt a strong surge of power, not from the arena, but from directly behind her. ▒Damn it.' Somebody had managed to sneak up on her while she had been distracted analysing the battle data. Still, she wasn't about to turn around and maybe miss out on one of the most important discoveries of her life as a scientist.

"Where is the book?" A cold voice demanded.

"Over there." She pointed at the small table with the book, never taking her eyes off the screen. "Take it and get going already. I have some important research going on here."

There was silence, for the seeker of the book was totally dumbfounded at her behavior for a moment. Then steps on metal ground, the sound of the book being removed from its place and finally another surge of power as the intruder transported himself back to his ship.

"Ryoko is not going to like this. Well... " Washu shrugged indifferently. "... it wouldn't have been of any use to her anyway." These were the last coherent words she spoke until the data from the battle finally stopped rolling in.

--

Washu had spoken about a fair fight of strength, speed and skill. And Tenchi had come to realize that it wasn't quite that fair, since Ryoko held advantages over him in all three categories. Up to now he had been able to keep her at bay and his stamina seemed to have increased considerable since the last time they fought, but just like then he didn't get a chance to launch an effective counter offensive.

There was a fourth element of battle for those who were outmatched in one, two or all of the other three, but it was less effective, for where the others could be used as long as the fighters stamina lasted, this one could usually be used only once. It was the element of surprise and Tenchi's secret weapon. Unfortunately, a secret weapon, which was difficult to use. The battle raged on in intensity and he hardly had the time to plan ahead for a surprise attack.

He ducked under another kick and used the opening to attack with a right hook, which was blocked. Almost simultaneously he followed up with his left and Ryoko, not wanting to be pushed into the defensive, retreated out of his range with a graceful back flip.

"You're better than the last time," she half taunted, half approved.

Seeing this as his chance, Tenchi charged. He knew that Ryoko hadn't really expected him to go into the offensive, which gave him an advantage for the first couple of seconds. Yet it wasn't enough to get in a hit. Finally his element of surprise wore off and the pirate managed to avoid another attack by getting a hold of his fist.

Ryoko grinned at him wickedly and suddenly Tenchi felt reminded of Trake's fate right before his death. Then he head-butted her. Now this was one thing she really hadn't expected. Dazed by the impact his hand slipped from her grasp and she staggered back a little.

Tenchi had always assumed that the pirate was thick headed, but now it had finally become a certainty. The amount of stars in the room had doubled and his sense of balance finally left him after all. It was almost a miracle that he managed to remain on his feet.

"Ouch," Ryoko announced, one hand pressed to her head. "That wasn't very nice, you know."

He still had troubles focusing in on her. The head-butt hadn't been such a good idea after all. If she chose to attack him now, the battle was over. But she didn't. Tenchi couldn't tell exactly what it was, but something changed in her posture.

"Damn!" she shouted.

Some seconds ago she had felt a strange surge of power, which was somehow familiar to her and right now she had felt it again and recognized it. It was faint, but she was still positive that it was the power of a Juraian space tree. A tree-ship was nearby.

Not wasting another second she teleported back to Washu's lab, leaving a dazed Tenchi, who had no idea of what was going on.

--

"It's terrible! He just came in here like this and took the book. He was too powerful, I could do nothing to stop him," Washu greeted her immediately upon her arrival.

To Ryoko it didn't look like any fight had taken place at all, but right now she didn't have the time to investigate this.

"Who? Who has taken the book and where did he go?!"

"It was Kagato. He fled with his ship. Maybe you can still catch up with him if you hurry." Washu had no desire to have her precious data destroyed by Ryoko, when she found out, so it was in her best interest that she hurried.

Much to her discomfort, however, Ryoko fixed her with a very serious glare.

"I swear, if you had something to do with this, I will make you regret it."

Then she disappeared, returning to the Souja in order to chase Kagato.

--

After Tenchi had somewhat recovered from the fight, he was starting to feel just a little left out. Something was going on and he, standing in the middle of a vast arena, resembling a space nebula, he no idea what it was.

"Hey!!" he tried. Nothing happened. Then, "Washu, get me out of here!!"

A blinding flash of light and he was back in the lab, facing Washu.

"What happened!?" he blurted out.

"Kagato was here while you two were fighting and he stole the book. Ryoko has taken off after him," was the scientists rather quick briefing.

Tenchi had completely forgotten about Kagato and that he had been after the book too. He should have known that a man like him wouldn't just give up like this and that he would eventually make another attempt at the treasure. It seemed now he had made one and a quite successful one at that.

He knew that it was totally inappropriate considering the situation, but it still bothered Tenchi that Ryoko had just left without him.

"I need to go after them. I need a ship." Washu had to have a ship somewhere, after all this was a space station and she couldn't spend her entire life in seclusion here, or could she?

"Coincidentally, this is a problem which can be solved." The scientist grinned, making Tenchi feel very uneasy. "Your very own ship is waiting for you right now." She whipped up a holotop and opened a trans-dimensional gateway. "Just step through the portal and see for yourself."

"My very own ship?" He stood there, unmoving, his gaze shifting between the portal and Washu.

"Hurry, or they will be all gone. I promise you will like the ship," she stated mysteriously.

Tenchi remembered what had happened the last time he had trusted Washu. He had end up lost in space and only through a stroke of luck escaped death. Lately he seemed to magically attract decisions where he would lose either way, but in one thing he did believe the scientist. If he wasted anymore time, he wouldn't be able to catch up with them anymore.

"Alright." The word sounded more like defeat than decision.

Bracing himself he stepped up to the gate. Through the swirling darkness it was impossible to make out what was on the other side. Maybe it was better this way. He took a deep breath and then stepped through the portal, towards his destination, that was his destiny.

* * *

Chapter notes:

Well, getting this one out took longer than I expected.

Tenchi's strange experience, the scene with Nagi and the one with Yosho and Ayeka were written by my sister, the rest I wrote by myself.

Hopefully you liked this chapter. Things are going to develop from here and I hope that I got you curious as to what exactly this is all about. Oh, and please don't forget to drop me a review, it will be very much appreciated.

As always thanks to Geor-sama, for smoothing things out some more.

See you in the next chapter.


	13. Desperate Moves

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of their original creators and all those affiliated with them. I have neither created them, nor do I own them. Any new characters as well as the events within this story are created by me and my sister, so they are our property. This story is written for fun and as an homage to the world of Tenchi.

* * *

Chapter 12 - Desperate Moves

Slowly the swirling darkness cleared and as soon as Tenchi stepped out of it, the portal disappeared. He scanned his surroundings with curiosity. He was standing in the middle of a narrow railed passageway. There wasn't much lighting, but he could make out the shapes of two space ships, one to either side of him, both approximately the size of a Galaxy Police patrol ship and of a style unknown to Tenchi. The ceiling of the hall was very high, so he assumed that this was in fact some kind of hangar. Maybe Washu actually hadn't tricked him this time.

Behind him the pathway ended and a careful look over the railing made him aware that the platform he was standing on was suspended in mid air. It was too dark to distinguish the bottom of the hall, but he thought to make out huge shapes down there as well. Maybe the hall had more than just one level. Tenchi had heard of such constructions, but it was said that they were used for storage purposes rather than actual space traffic. He wondered how big the hall really was, slightly surprised that someone like Washu would waste so much space for the storage of ships, especially since he had no idea of what use those ships would be for the scientist.

Although he was short on time, Tenchi had a feeling that it might be better to inspect the area a little closer before he acted. He walked down the pathway and finally stepped out between the two ships. His eyes widened as he surveyed the rest of the hall. Any last doubt he might have had about this being a storage hangar for ships was wiped out instantly. The hall was huge. In fact he couldn't make out an end on either side. And there were ships everywhere. All aligned to the wide center platform with passageways between them like the one the portal had led him to.

Somehow he didn't like this. There was absolutely no reason for Washu to hoard such a large number of ships and moreover such an enormous construction would have to take up almost all the space her station provided.

He shrugged it off and started to walk down the center platform at a swift pace, keeping his eyes open for the ships around him. If he didn't find one that would serve his purposes quickly, he wouldn't be able to track down the Souja anymore. He felt more than a little unease as he realized that this would mean he would lose the book together with Ryoko. Shaking his head he banished the thought and walked even faster.

Tenchi found that he was growing increasingly irritated with every passing moment. Considering the size of the hangar, Washu should have given him instructions. It wasn't that those ships around him didn't fit his tastes, but most of them were totally worn down and he seriously doubted that he would survive if he tried to take them out into space. The scientist must have been mocking him as she said that one of these ships he was going to call his very own soon.

He had barely finished the thought when he finally discovered what he had unknowingly been looking for the entire time. His gaze locked on to one of the ships, eyes growing wide, and his body froze. It was impossible. There was no way this one could be here.

But it was. There was no doubt in his mind, no thoughts of maybe having mistaken it, only a cold certainty. For every other person this ship would have been just another Galaxy Police patrol ship and not one that was in particularly good shape even. Tenchi, however, had spend the majority of the past two years with it and it had become the closest thing to home he had had in these dark times. Therefore he knew it from the inside out. Over there was docked the ship he had come to call his very own. The Yagami.

Tenchi's mind raced, trying to find an acceptable explanation for this, but there was none. Of course it would have probably been the easiest thing to Washu, locating his ship and bringing it back to her hangar, but why in the world would she do something like this. Because she really wanted to help him out? He didn't think so. No, as much as he wanted it to, it wasn't that easy, so much he knew. But how else could the Yagami have gotten there?

Then it struck him. The immense hangar, all the totally worn down ships, the Yagami. It all made sense. Washu had tricked him. The portal hadn't led him to her storage area, like he had first thought and the scientist hadn't done him a favor and brought his ship to him. On the contrary, she had brought him to the very hangar the Yagami was stored in.

And it didn't require much imagination to get an idea of where exactly that was. Something cold travelled down his spine at the realization that he had carelessly walked the floor of what was most likely a Juraian facility for storing away ships captured from criminals. If someone found him here, it would be the end.

But maybe, just maybe he would be able to reach the Yagami without being noticed. Then he might still stand a chance to get out of this mess unharmed. Quickly Tenchi set at approaching his ship, trying to be as stealthy as was possible without any cover.

He should have known that in such situations fate usually had the tendency to deepen his misery and it would make no exception this time. He hadn't even crossed half the distance as suddenly two figures stepped out of the shadows that were one of the passageways right next to the Yagami.

Tenchi stopped immediately, hoping that they wouldn't see him if he only held still enough. But of course that was a foolish train of thought. He was standing in a wide open area and although the lighting was dim, he was probably still quite visible. They just had to spot him.

And unfortunately they did. As soon as they had stepped out of the shadows completely and Tenchi could make out their appearance in more detail, one of them raised his arm and pointed at him urgently.

"Hey you! Halt right there!" the man who was pointing at him shouted.

Meanwhile Tenchi felt a totally misplaced pride about his theory being proven. Those two were wearing what he knew as the traditional garb of Juraian knights. So he was in Juraian territory after all. Fortunately this confirmation took him only a second, exactly the time the two knights needed to get over their surprise of having an intruder suddenly appear out of nowhere. Then he took notice of the situation he was in and without thinking he whirled around and made a break for the direction he had been going before he had discovered his ship.

Escaping with the Yagami was not an option anymore, since it would mean taking on those two knights and other than most of the guards back on the moon base, they were trained fighters. If only half of what he had heard about Juraian knights was true, he wouldn't last longer than a second, even if he had to fight only one of them.

"Hey, I said stop!" he heard one of them shouting, followed by the sound of fast steps. They were taking up pursuit.

Of course Tenchi had absolutely no intention of stopping. Maybe he could lose them somehow in this monstrosity of a hall. If he could only figure out how to reach next level. His wildly darting gaze didn't find any steps, or any kind of contraption for that purpose. Perhaps the other levels were only accessible from the outside.

He risked a quick glance over his shoulder. His lead had already diminished quite a bit. It was painfully obvious that they were faster than him, at this rate they would reach him in no more than another minute. At least they hadn't drawn their blasters or anything like that. Tenchi had no idea if knights were even armed with blaster weapons and if he didn't come up with something quickly, it wouldn't matter anymore anyway.

As he turned his eyes ahead one more time, still in search of a better escape route, he realized that he would soon reach the end of the hall. And that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, for there seemed to be an opening, connecting the main hall with what seemed to be a staircase leading down. The chances were slim, but if he made it to this exit, he might still be able to lose his pursuers.

Driven by this thought, Tenchi managed to run even faster, crossing the remaining distance. He even managed to get some distance between himself and the knights again. But he still wasn't fast enough.

He had almost reached the opening as a couple of wooden tendrils started growing out of the ground below and the ceiling above it, closing it up in a matter of seconds. Tenchi screamed out in anger and disappointment as the last gap was closed right in front of him and, unable to stop himself in time, he slammed into the wall of wood painfully hard.

For a moment his mind became clouded by the impact and his desperation. It took him a precious second to focus his thoughts again and as he finally turned around, he already knew that it was over, even before he saw the two knights standing directly in front of him.

"Believe me, you will make it a lot easier on yourself if you give up now. There's nowhere to run," he was told by the knight standing closer to him. His tone was neutral, but he still managed to make it sound like Tenchi still had a choice and he was only trying to help him decide.

No more than an hour ago, Tenchi would never have thought that he would get into such a situation. The Juraians were proud and very powerful and in respect of that strength he had always considered them a lingering threat, which he needed to avoid for the past two years. But strangely he had never really feared them. Yes, they were dangerous, but only for others, not for himself. Now things had gotten terribly out of hand and all of a sudden he felt fear. Fear that he might lose his freedom or even if life. Fear that he wouldn't be able to find Ryoko ever again. Somehow this fear restored some of Tenchi's lost confidence. He couldn't give up yet.

The man in front of him was looking at him expectantly and Tenchi used the chance to thoroughly analyse the situation for the first time. The one who had asked him to give up was now standing almost in arm's reach and although he didn't seem like it, Tenchi knew that he was tensed, ready to deal with any attack he might throw at him. The other one had stepped back and aside a little, probably to cover his partner in the unlikely case that something went wrong. They were both armed with stun lances, which were obviously designed to be used as a two handed staff has well.

The knight had been right, running would be futile, as would be risking an attack. However, if he somehow managed to get his opponent to make the first move, he might be able to take him by surprise. He had already proven that he wasn't a good actor a couple of times in the past, but now it was his only chance. He put on a face, which he hoped would make a grim and determined impression.

"Never!" Like a gambler sometimes puts everything on one card, he laid everything into this one word. And it worked.

"Well, alright boy. If you want it that way. But don't say I didn't warn you." He spoke with confidence, but not over-confidence.

Then everything happened very quickly. The knight moved in on him and swung his lance in a fluent motion. He was so fast, that Tenchi almost didn't manage to avoid the dangerous tip of the lance, even though he had consciously provoked the attack. The weapon was only inches from his chest as he frantically twisted his upper body to the right. He was a little surprised by the speed of his own movement, which enabled him to barely avoid being stabbed. Instantly he sent out his right fist for the now exposed mid-section of the knight. Again he felt a strange wonder at the swiftness and precision of his counterattack. However, his opponent was still faster.

Tenchi couldn't see exactly what he did because it all happened at once, only that the movement of the staff didn't end with the failed attack and suddenly it was between him and the knight, ready to block his blow. That would have, no doubt, been an exceptionally painful experience, but much to the surprise of the more experienced combatant, it didn't come to this. Somehow Tenchi managed to convert his attack the last instant and instead of hitting the staff full force, he grabbed on to it. He didn't waste a second in giving it a hard jerk and this was obviously an attack that his opponent really wasn't prepared for. The knight lost his balance, presenting another opening, which Tenchi made use of by slamming his fist into his face.

The man stumbled backwards and Tenchi immediately followed with a half turn, elbowing him in the stomach. With a grunt of pain and surprise, the knight doubled over, but he didn't let go off his weapon. An incredible power welled up inside of Tenchi. He knew that this was his chance to finish his opponent once and for all. But he hesitated. Suddenly he was scared of himself. The powers inside of him begged to be released, to be put to their full destructive use and for a moment he almost heard Shade's cruel laughter inside of his head.

This moment of indecision was enough for the knight. Despite his poor condition, his movements had lost nothing of their grace and precision. He used his weapon for support and was standing again in the blink of an eye. Then he brought it around and before Tenchi knew what had happened, he was hit right in the chest. He felt a burning pain as the electricity coursed through his body. His legs gave away under him and all of a sudden he could see the ground rushing up to him. He never felt the impact.

* * *

"I won't let you off this easily," Ryoko thought aloud, her irritation evident on her face.

Fortunately her reaction back on Washu's station had been quick enough, so she had been able to follow Kagato and the Soto-oh into hyperspace. Now she was giving chase at maximum speed, but even though the screen in front of her made it seem like she just needed to extend her hand in order to reach and crush the Soto-oh, the actual distance between the two ships hadn't changed in the slightest.

Of course this only served to feed Ryoko's frustration. None of this was supposed to be happening. Had Tenchi not decided that he wanted to keep the book all of a sudden, she wouldn't have been distracted, giving Kagato a chance to act. She should never have agreed to this foolish duel anyway. Washu and her ideas, couldn't be trusted, much less with a treasure of such importance as the Holy Book.

And there he had done it again. Tenchi had made her feel like she had made a mistake, a feeling that was usually alien to her. It was even worse for the fact that despite that he had betrayed her, Ryoko still felt bad for just having left him behind. They hadn't been together for long, but now that he was gone she realized that she had already started to grow used to his presence.

Maybe she would have even been able to beat some sense into him, had it not been for Kagato. Who did this guy think he was, intruding in her personal affairs? She would teach him, of that she was certain.

But in order to do so, she needed to catch up with him first, which was an endeavour not quite as simple as one might have thought with a powerful ship like the Souja. From their mutual time, Ryoko knew a few things about the Soto-oh and one of those facts was, that the tree ship and the Souja were about evenly matched in means of top speed. The chase would last until one of them ran out of stamina and Ryoko didn't have enough knowledge of Kagato's ship to predict who that would be.

Feeling the desperate urge to went her frustration on someone, Ryoko decided that she was not going to wait and find out. Kagato was just out of weapons range, but there was another way to get a hold of him.

Hyperspace violations had always been among the worst crimes that could be committed, because of the dreadful and unpredictable consequences they might have. Out of the same reason there was some kind of mutual agreement even among pirates and other criminals to avoid this one crime. It was in effect now as well as it had been over three centuries ago.

Even to Ryoko three centuries were a long time and what had happened back then almost seemed like another life to her. Not always had her ship been as powerful as it was now and back then there had more often been times where she needed to make a quick getaway in order to avoid getting killed or captured. One time a couple of heavily armed ships had been closing in on her in a wild hyperspace chase. At that time she had decided that she had nothing to lose and might as well try this one last resort.

It had gotten the job done. She had emerged from hyperspace, albeit barely. Her pursuers hadn't. However, it had been a most disturbing experience so she had decided to stay with the agreement in the future as long as was possible.

But now she needed to act quickly, or she would give Kagato the chance to pull one of his many tricks. Also, she knew that the thrill would replace her anger and brooding, a change that would be quite welcome to her.

Some would say that consciously trying to make a hyperspace tunnel collapse was outright suicide and Ryoko couldn't blame them for it, because she had experienced it first hand and knew that they were actually right. But at the moment she could care less. She just wanted to get back at Kagato, who had meanwhile become the target of all her anger.

From past experience she knew that a fully charged blast from the Souja's main cannon would probably be enough to render the channel instable. Hyperspace physics would take over from there with a chain reaction.

Ryoko readied the weapon. For endless seconds the pirate's anticipation charged together with it. Then it was finally fully energized.

With a demonic smile on her lips she fired the cannon.

The energy blast came into existence and dissipated after no more than a few seconds. At first that was all that happened. All the hyperspace readouts remained normal.

Then, after another minute, in which Ryoko feared that the power of the blast might not have been strong enough, something changed. The stars which were speeding past the Soto-oh as short lines of light on screen started to flicker, like something was trying to suck them out of existence.

Ryoko started to feel dizzy and all of a sudden the hyperspace readouts went haywire. It was then that she realized that it wasn't the stars that were being sucked out of existence, but the Souja herself.

She had trouble thinking straight, since the anomalies had an instant effect on her mind as well, but obviously her plan had worked, the channel was collapsing into sub-space and soon everything within it would be ripped apart and scattered over the known and unknown universe. Unfortunately, Kagato didn't seem to care, for he just continued on his course undeterred and since there was a good chance that Ryoko would lose him if she left the collapsing channel before him, she had to sit him out.

Some seconds passed and the pirate started to feel like she was torn in multiple directions all at once. She couldn't help but to scream in pain at the sensation, but the sound didn't come out right and, in its distortion, sounded more like laughter, mocking her agony. Through her haze she somehow found the time to wonder if she would go insane before she died, or die on the spot.

Then the Soto-oh left hyperspace. Ryoko didn't see it, because the space shown on the screen had already started to twist into impossible directions, but the distinctive presence she had felt all the time suddenly disappeared. She was all alone now.

Drawing from a power she didn't know she had and reacting on an instinct that was nothing short of panic, she forced back the insanity that threatened to overwhelm her and got at entering the shut down sequence for the hyperspace engines. It was hard, since her hands didn't seem to move like they were supposed to and the control panel was constantly trying to twist away under her touch, but somehow she finally managed.

There was a final jolt and then everything returned to normal.

At first Ryoko was a little disoriented and the only thing she knew was that her head was aching. But the pain was already receding, so after a couple of seconds she was able to think clearly again. At least her plan had worked so far that she had survived. And a system check told her that being alive wasn't the end of her lucky streak. The Souja didn't seem to have taken any serious damage either.

Then she finally remembered the reason she had risked this maneuver in the first place. Without further delay she scanned the surrounding area. If Kagato was out there, she had to act quickly.

The sensors picked up on something and more out of instinct than conscious thought Ryoko brought up the shields even before she got the confirmation that it was indeed the Soto-oh she had discovered positioned directly in front of her. Still, her reaction wasn't a second too early.

Kagato opened fire and the impact that was meant to rip her asunder, was reduced to a minor tremble by the shields. Ryoko instantly slipped into her battle routine and, without thinking, she countered his attack with one of her own. But of course it didn't penetrate the Soto-oh's powerful shield.

Ryoko somewhat expected him to attempt an escape right then, but he didn't. Instead he pressed his attack even more, forcing her in the defensive again. She had no idea of what he was trying to accomplish with this course of action. He had to know that in the long run she would outmatch him in combat. Maybe he was hoping that the Souja had received some damage through the hyperspace breakdown. But then again, he wasn't the man to wager anything on hope alone.

Whatever, this was the chance she had been waiting for and by no means was she going to let it slip. If he for some reason thought he could actually take her on, she would make him pay for his mistake. If not, she was going to make him pay anyway.

Once again the Soto-oh was taken under fire by the Souja, but much to Ryoko's irritation only few of the blasts found their mark. The tree ship's maneuverability exceeded that of a normal ship of the same size and it by far exceeded that of the Souja. Of course, being a great pilot, Kagato was able to make full use of this advantage by avoiding the worst of her counter fire.

The Soto-oh came back at her and Ryoko finally realized his intention as he delivered another barrage to the Souja's rear. He wasn't really trying to take her on, instead he was still trying to escape and in order to do just that, he only needed to get a decent hit in on the Souja's engines. With even the slightest decrease in her power output, she wouldn't be able to give chase anymore. It was a reasonable strategy, which only served to make Ryoko all the more furious.

She was just about to give him hell, as another important detail came to her mind. Through her anger and lust for revenge she had totally forgotten that Kagato was still in possession of the book. By breaking down hyperspace she had already risked destroying it, she had to be more careful, after all she hadn't gone through the danger of taking it from Shade, just so she could destroy it herself now.

The Souja was rocked by another attack and Ryoko cursed. Even if she managed to defeat Kagato she wouldn't achieve victory. He knew that she couldn't risk seriously damaging his ship and so he would fight to the very end. The only way she could really win this battle was by taking the book, but unfortunately this was impossible. Even though she was quite familiar with the interior of the Soto-oh, there was no way for her to teleport over as long as his shield was up and he kept moving around all the time.

The shield... suddenly she remembered Kagato telling her something important once. He had explained it to them during the preparation of a battle strategy for one of their raids. Like most tree ships, the Soto-oh wasn't originally meant to be used for offensive means. She remembered it having something to do with the trees and the Juraians' relation to them. Anyway, Kagato's ship had only minor offensive capabilities and in order to launch a really powerful attack, he needed to draw from the shield. Back then, Nagi had asked him if this wasn't dangerous, since it would mean for the ship to become temporarily vulnerable. But, according to him, it wasn't, because he would need only a split second to redirect the energy. Not enough time for any counterattack to strike home, even if the enemy predicted his move.

But maybe just enough time for someone to teleport over. Over the time spent together with Kagato she had developed a weak connection with the tree Soto-oh. She had never paid much attention to this strange bond, but Kagato had told her that Soto-oh seemed to have taken a liking in her, which was very unusual, for the trees of Jurai normally didn't have much of an interest in people other than Juraians. She wasn't able to hear the thoughts of the tree, or share its feelings like Kagato, but sometimes, in the very back of her mind, she had felt the energy peaks when the pirate unleashed some of the tree's power.

However much it had bothered her back then, this connection might prove to be an advantage in Ryoko's current situation. If she concentrated hard enough, she might just be able to feel it when he was about to attack. All she needed to do now was to provoke him into action and make sure that he didn't move too fast, because otherwise an attempt at teleportation would most likely turn into a truly unpleasant experience.

Kagato was still blasting away at her and by now he had scored quite a number of hits. Only the Souja's powerful shields had prevented her from taking real damage up to now. She had to act quickly, because soon she wouldn't be able to go through with this anymore.

Ryoko set a collision course with the Soto-oh and accelerated, never ceasing her fire in the process. In order to bait Kagato out, she needed to perform a believable show.

The distance between the two pirate ships decreased rapidly. For a moment it almost seemed as if Kagato wasn't going to avoid the collision, but then the Soto-oh darted to the side with a speed Ryoko wouldn't have thought possible. But her surprise only lasted a second before she slowed down her ship, presenting just the opening Kagato must have been waiting for.

Some terrible seconds passed, in which nothing happened. Then the Soto-oh moved around, going for her exposed back.

This was it. Ryoko redirected all available energy to strengthen the portside shields and finally switched the Souja to auto-defense mode, though she hoped that there would be no need for this. Finally she stood from her seat, closed her eyes and moved two fingers of her right hand to her forehead in concentration. She knew that Kagato was now moving in on her from behind very carefully. If he was going to attack, this was the chance.

At first she felt absolutely nothing. There was only the hum of the bridge systems around her and no more. Maybe he had seen through her moves and wasn't going to strike, or maybe he just wasn't close enough yet and her connection with his tree was too weak. She tried to concentrate even harder, to shut out all external distractions. Still nothing. She was just about to give up, when suddenly she felt a flash of emotions that weren't her own.

Slight defiance, instantly wiped out by a stronger loyalty than any human would ever be able to feel. Determination, power and finally realization.

Ryoko's eyes shot open, meeting the screen. It showed the Soto-oh, almost having come to a stop. And this time she could feel the threat the ship was emitting. It was now or never, she would either meet Kagato or doom.

The Soto-oh fired, but there was no one on board the Souja anymore to feel the impact.

--

The process of rematerialisation was extremely unpleasant. Reality had turned into a colorful mix of watery outlines. There was no ground beneath her feet and the fact that she wasn't falling didn't make the sensation the slightest bit more digestible. Somehow she felt drained, much like her vitality had been stripped away.

Then the outlines around her turned into solid shapes all at once, almost overwhelming her senses, and she was standing on solid ground again. But not for long, because her legs didn't seem to have enough strength left to support her. Ryoko collapsed to her knees with a grunt of exhaustion and surprise.

She heard footsteps approaching her and, trying to get back on her feet, braced herself for an attack. Fortunately the lost strength was already returning to her limbs, so she managed to get up quickly. Kagato meanwhile, had stopped directly in front of her, his hand resting on the hilt of the energy sword at his side. Strangely he hadn't drawn it yet.

"I guess I should feel honored for a beautiful lady to go through so much trouble just to meet me." He made the statement sound serious enough for Ryoko to think he was courting her, hadn't she known him better. "Forgive me, if I failed to properly prepare this little reunion, but I actually didn't expect you to visit."

Ryoko couldn't believe he was making small talk in a situation like this. Then again, it suited him. Probably he was just trying to undermine her guard with his words, so he would be able to strike her down in a second of unawareness. She wasn't going to have any of this.

"Where's the book?" she asked, countering his flowery speech with ice in her voice.

Kagato's expression remained unreadable.

"Right over there." He pointed to the left and behind himself.

Ryoko followed his gesture, all the time keeping an eye on him. The book was actually right there, resting on a wooden panel next to the mighty tree of Soto-oh. Her eyes thinned in suspicion.

"It's yours for the taking. Do I seem like somebody, who denies a beautiful lady a wish?" Now he smiled despite himself. "But..." He drew his sword. "... the last time we met I realized that I could use some exercise. What do you say we have a little rematch beforehand?"

He didn't wait for an answer, but swung his blade at her as soon as he had spoken the last word. Having been prepared for such an attack, Ryoko instantly summoned her own blade to parry the swipe. Much to her terror, however, the sword didn't come to live like it was supposed to. Realizing that she was about to be cut in half she desperately dodged to the side, avoiding the dark blade only barely.

But Kagato seemed to have no intention of giving her a chance to recover. He immediately followed up with a couple of swift strikes. She had to do a deadly dance in order to avoid being hit by the blade, still unable to summon her own weapon.

Ryoko was just about to get into serious trouble, as her energy sword finally ignited. She used it to block Kagato's next attack. The blades locked and energy crackled as the two combatants struggled for superiority in this power contest.

"I see, this time you are the one who is out of shape. Maybe you shouldn't have come."

To further emphasize his words he strained his muscles and pushed her off forcefully. Not having expected him to possess such power, Ryoko stumbled backwards a few steps before she managed to regain her balance. Fortunately, Kagato didn't use the opening to finish her off once and for all.

As she looked up to see why he was hesitating, she noticed the hint of a smile tucking at the corners of his lips. Then it struck her. It wasn't only that the teleportation process had drained some of her strength, but that he was more powerful as well. In her rush to act and take back the holy book, she had completely forgotten to take into consideration another aspect of Kagato's connection to his tree. The closer he was to it, the easier it would become for him to access its powers. And right now they were as close as possible. She had to admit that this battle might actually prove to be difficult.

This time she didn't wait for Kagato to make the next move, but charged by herself. The blades met once again and once again Ryoko felt the terrible strength of her opponent. But at the same time, she felt her own power returning more and more. If she managed to buy only a little more time, the odds of battle might finally shift to her favor.

However, the next moments proved that this wouldn't even be necessary. The two pirates were most efficiently disengaged by a sudden shock going through the tree ship's control room. Kagato was sent stumbling backwards and Ryoko had to try hard not to fall over, directly into his sword. For a second they both fought for their balance, putting the battle on halt.

Ryoko wondered what might have caused the sudden quake. The Souja wasn't supposed to attack all on her own, but what else might it have been? Kagato was obviously thinking along similar lines, for he didn't continue the battle, but just kept standing there, wearing a mask of concentration.

After an endless moment, in which Ryoko was trying to decide if she should use the chance to catch him of guard, he looked up at her again and at the same time extinguished his energy blade.

"Seems like we have to end this battle in a draw." There was a hint of disappointment in his voice.

"What the hell are you talking about? What's going on?" Ryoko asked, not knowing what to make of his strange behavior.

"It's a Juraian scout. Probably they have picked up on your little hyperspace fireworks and come to check out what caused it." He made an inviting gesture towards the book. "I suggest you take it and leave. There's no time to waste now."

Ryoko felt her eyes going wide and her jaw dropping. She couldn't believe what he just said.

"What!?" She made no move to follow his invitation. "You don't expect me to believe that you are willing to just leave it to me after all that happened?"

"As I said, we don't have much time and I'm a reasonable man. In less than an hour the entire sector will be swarming with Juraians. If we keep fighting any longer, we might not be able to get away anymore. I have no use for the book in a Juraian prison cell, so I might as well give up on it right now."

Although Ryoko had a feeling that something was slightly off with it, his words had a strange compelling logic. He seemed to be serious about it and she had gotten to know him as a man who made such sacrifices in order to preserve his freedom after all. It was like his heart wasn't really in pirating. As if there was always something else he still wanted to do with his life and in order to accomplish it, he had to stay free. Over the years both, Nagi and her, had come to sense that restlessness within him and more than once had they asked him about it, but he never answered. Obviously he hadn't changed that much. The thought filled Ryoko with a strange hint of sentimentality.

More out of desire to banish these unwelcome feelings than as a reaction to his words, she briskly walked past him towards the panel with the book. She halfway expected him to try and stab her in the back or something along those lines, but he didn't. He just remained standing there, watching her as, with a fleeting look, she made sure that the book was really the item she was after. It seemed like it was. She grabbed it and turned around, fixing Kagato with her gaze.

"So what now?" she asked harshly, not about to be thankful to him for giving her back what she considered as rightfully hers.

"You better leave." It was impossible to tell if he meant those words as an advice or a threat.

The ship was rocked by another impact. Obviously the scout they were dealing with here commanded over some serious fire power.

"You seem to forget that I can't teleport through your shield," Ryoko reminded him, annoyed.

"I will lower the shield for you. Now get going. We need to take out this scout as soon as possible if we want to buy us some time." There actually was some urgency in his voice now.

Ryoko gave him a look, which spoke volumes of exactly how much she trusted him. However, she didn't have much choice. If he was speaking the truth, she really needed to return to the Souja. If not... well, she would find out soon enough.

A very faint nod and she was gone. Kagato briefly lowered the shield for her to teleport back to her ship, staying extra careful to avoid the blasts thrown at him by the Juraian for the time. Then he finally brought up the image of the attacking vessel on the screen by a mental command.

It was a medium sized Juraian ship. Not a warship and thus most likely it didn't have a tree either. By normal means it was still relatively powerful, like all Juraian crafts, but it wouldn't be a match for the two pirates together. The captain had to know this, but still he was trying to take them on. Probably he had his orders to stall them until the fleet arrived. An order he would have done better not to follow.

The Souja was stirring already, like a beast that was going to squash the midge that had been bothering it. While Kagato had to deal with Ryoko he hadn't been able to efficiently counterattack either, but now he turned his full attention at the scout as well. Like in mutual understanding the two pirate ships opened fire at once.

The Juraian tried his best to avoid the barrage and he actually did as good a job at it as possible, but it still wasn't good enough. He had no chance against the combined fire power of the both of them. His shield broke down after the first couple of hits and without its protection he didn't survive the deadly rain longer than a few of seconds before he was completely ripped apart.

Soon there were only pieces of debris left between the Souja and the Soto-oh. The two ships, however, remained locked in silent tension. Even though she had what she wanted, Kagato knew that there was still a chance that Ryoko would continue the battle. It would be anything but wise, yet he was aware that impulsiveness often won out over reason in the case of his former partner.

Luckily, reason seemed to be stronger this time. The Souja finally set a new course and accelerated into hyperspace.

Kagato decided that he might as well leave to go on with his own assignment before the Juraian reinforcements appeared. He still didn't know how it was possible, but it had turned out to be a stroke of luck that the book had unveiled itself to him. Now he finally knew what exactly it was, Yosho wanted to achieve. Looking at the glowing runes the knowledge had poured into his mind. Though he was still far from grasping the real meaning of the ancient truths written in the book, he had learned what Yosho was really looking for. And where to find it. The book was of no importance anymore.

Now all he needed to do was to give Yosho the information he desired and wait. If he truly attained the power described in the book, he might be able to lay waste on the Juraian empire. And its emperor. He knew that there was a good chance that none of this would ever happen, but still, the thought filled Kagato with some of the satisfaction he had been craving for so long.

Finally the Soto-oh vanished into hyperspace as well, leaving only the scattered pieces of the destroyed Juraian ship as a reminder of the battle that had taken place there.

* * *

The familiar smell of fresh wood reached Tenchi's nose. He inhaled the scent deeply and imagined lying on small clearing in the middle of a very old forest, whose trees were whispering stories of long forgotten times among themselves. Somewhere deep inside he knew that he was lying to himself, but he wasn't ready to accept the cruel reality just yet. The whispering of the trees faded and soon there was nothing to be heard then his own blood flowing through his veins. Tenchi opened his eyes.

At first he was quite surprised to indeed find himself surrounded by trees, but he quickly discovered that the trunks weren't standing there at random. Their thick and barren branches were intermingled with one another so that they formed a close-meshed web around him.

Tenchi stood up and took a closer look at his surroundings. His cell was about 20 feet in size and almost rectangular in shape. Through the gaps between the branches he could make out more cells in each direction. But it seemed like his was the only one currently occupied. A shiver travelled down his spine as he thought about the rumors he had heard at the academy.

Slowly he approached the barrier next to him. He carefully ran his fingers over the smooth wood. It was impossible, but somehow he felt that there was still life within those old limbs.

But actually they weren't only alive, but very powerful as well. At least that was the conclusion Tenchi came to after trying to break free from his cell. Breathing heavily he sat back down, his back leaned on the trunk that marked the middle of the small compartment.

'So this is a Juraian prison.' He sighed at the realization that there was nobody to blame for the fact that he had ended up here. To him it felt like a small eternity had passed since he had encountered Ryoko at the alpha base. Back then he had thought he knew the right thing to do. In an indirect assignment by the GP he had infiltrated the base with a clearly defined objective. He was going to arrest Ryoko.

Tenchi smiled bitterly, remembering his naivety back then. Things had turned out different from what he had expected. He hadn't been able to keep Ryoko from taking the holy book, not to speak of arresting her. Instead he had escaped together with her, making everyone believe that he was actually her partner.

He recalled their discussion at the bridge of the Souja right after their escape. Ryoko had been somewhat excited, trying to talk him into becoming her partner for real. But of course he had turned her down right away. It would have been plain wrong. Never would he be running through the galaxy, committing crimes... committing crimes...

Tenchi sighed again and closed his eyes. He hadn't been able to stand to his ideals for long. The bad feeling caused by this thought was of a different nature than it was supposed to be. He should have despised himself for giving up some of his principles in exchange for his freedom. But what really made him feel bad was just the fact that he didn't.

Although every fiber of his mind told him that it was an irreparable mistake to free Ryoko from the GSP, something deep inside him gave him permission.

But maybe it would be better to rely on the mind alone in the future. Tenchi's eyes popped open, an angry expression appearing on his face.

Since he had worked together with Ryoko again everything had gone wrong. First they had met this creepy Shade, who had done something to Tenchi, of which he didn't even want to guess at. Then Ryoko had refused to return the book to its rightful owners and had even started a fight, because she thought he wanted to keep the book to himself.

Tenchi felt the anger welling up inside of him. How could he have been such a fool? Had he believed that Ryoko had changed during her time in the GSP? She was still a pirate. Killing people like Trake was her every-day business. And she was so stubborn. It was totally impossible for him to make her understand that there was something wrong with her way of live. Maybe that was what made him so mad. He had to dislike her because of her attitude, yet he didn't.

But one thing was for sure. In the long run she had been the cause of his problems. Tenchi still believed that he didn't have much choice, but to step through Washu's portal in order to follow Ryoko and the book. However, had he known back then, that it would lead him directly into the hands of the Juraians, he probably wouldn't have done it.

While Tenchi was absorbed in his thoughts like this, a man had taken position in front of his cell.

Obviously the boy inside didn't even notice him. The bearded man countered such ignorance by staring down the prisoner. His gaze would have melted steel, but the young man proved to be immune to the effect. He was too occupied with himself and his thoughts. Well, in such cases a prison guard was allowed to resort to other means.

"MASAKI!" he shouted and the next instant the boy stood, his back pressed against the back wall, with eyes wide enough for a grenade to fit in. But they didn't only mirror fright. He distinctly felt the boy's fear as well and his look became even darker.

"So you are the little bastard, who dared to steal a sacred treasure. I guess you know how grave a crime you committed, so don't expect any mercy from our majesty." For a moment he feasted on the speechlessness of the prisoner, then he threw the pile of clothes, he had been carrying, into the cell and continued. "Put this on! I don't quite understand how scum like you deserves the clothes of an honest Juraian citizen, but I have my orders. Though... looking at you..." He turned up his nose in disgust. "... I really can't take you before the emperor like this. So hurry up already."

With a dark expression and an invisible triumphant smile, the guard watched the boy getting out of the dirty remains of his pirate outfit, in order to put on the fresh clothes.

The instant he was done, the bearded giant drew his blaster and opened the cell.

"Get out and no tricks, or I will execute your sentence right here and now."

Tenchi had decided to resort to silence. Without a word he stepped out of the cell and onto the narrow corridor. The barrel of the blaster hit him in the back and made him move ahead.

"Move it! Or do you want to make the emperor wait, pirate scum?!" The man's insults came out almost casual, like a routine he had practiced over and over. Probably that was just what he had been doing for most of his life.

But still, Tenchi felt intimidated by the man's behavior and his words. Of course he had every reason to be afraid in his situation, but it wasn't only the fear for what was going to happen. His words struck something inside of Tenchi. Maybe it was the realization that the man was speaking the truth. Scum... maybe he had earned himself that title.

However, the man obviously decided that he wasn't worth the effort, because they walked in silence from there on. They left the cell block and passed through a wooden corridor that seemed to stretch on forever. Now he realized why the cells around him had been empty. It wasn't because there was a shortage of prisoners like he had first thought, but because the prison was huge. More than one time he caught a glimpse of what seemed like other cell blocks at the end of some of the main corridors side arms.

On their way they came across a handful of other guards. Most of them acknowledged the man behind him with a nod and gave Tenchi a dark look at the same time or just ignored him, making him truly feel like a criminal. He didn't like the feeling at all.

Finally the corridor ended in a slightly larger chamber. It was of circular shape, with a strange platform in its center. Two guards were standing next to it, one on either side. If they recognized Tenchi, or the man behind him, they didn't show it. Their faces remained totally indifferent, making them appear more like guardian statues than anything else.

"This one goes to the royal palace," Tenchi's escort suddenly exclaimed, startling him.

While the left guard's only reaction was to step to the side to approach a wooden station, that was probably the Juraian equivalent of a control panel, the other guard's eyebrows went up, giving away his surprise.

"So that's Masaki?" There was a slight hint of awe in his voice, which made Tenchi feel very uncomfortable.

"None of your business. But yes, it's him. Now step aside!" the escort answered gruffly. "And you, step up on the transporter already, or do I need to give you a hand," he added, sneering into Tenchi's direction now.

Having no desire to find out what the guards understanding of giving him a hand was, Tenchi hurried to step up on the transporter platform. As soon as he had taken his place in the center of the room, the guard at the control panel did something and before he knew it, the shapes around Tenchi lost their substance, merging into a chaotic mix of colors.

The process was kind of unpleasant, for it reminded him of his own experiences with teleportation. He couldn't remember the transporters of the Galaxy Police ever giving him the creeps like this, but then again, it had been ages since he last used one of them.

At any rate, he was glad when he finally rematerialized in another room, similar to the one he had just left. This time there were two men waiting for his reception. Their unique clothing identified them as knights.

"This way." One of the knights gestured towards one of the three doors, leading out of the chamber.

Tenchi stepped down from the platform and the knight turned around to step through the door in front of him. The other one followed behind, taking him into the middle. There was no chance of escape. Not that he would have made any attempt anyway.

They walked through the halls and passages of what Tenchi took to be the royal palace, for a very long time. The construction had to be enormous with a very complicated layout, since he lost all sense of orientation after the first couple of minutes already. It was only then that the realization that he was being lead before the emperor of Jurai finally registered to his mind. But instead of respect or fear, the thought only triggered a somewhat resigning numbness. Everything was over now. He was not going to get out of this one.

Finally they reached a large door. The knight in front of him took a position to the right of it, while the other one walked past Tenchi and placed himself to the left of the door.

"Enter," the knight next to him demanded firmly.

Tenchi obediently stepped up to the door. He was only slightly surprised as it swung open in front of him by itself, permitting him access. Then, all of a sudden, the fear returned, making him hesitate. Behind this door his fate would be decided, so much he knew for certain.

However, the frown of one of the knights reminded him, that he had no choice but to enter right now, so he tried his best to compose himself and stepped through the door into the audience chamber.

The room wasn't as huge and fancy as he had expected. It wasn't small either, but Tenchi had subconsciously expected the place where the emperor resided to be enormous. Instead it was a medium sized hall. His eyes automatically searched for the throne, but they got caught on the two wooden columns, that lined the carpeted pathway, one on either side. There was no doubt that the only purpose they served was to impress and maybe even intimidate the visitor with the intricately carved patterns, they depictured.

Then his eyes met the throne at the other end of the room, which was currently occupied by no other than the emperor of Jurai. Tenchi flinched as he realized that the emperor was looking right back at him. His gaze left no space for disobedience. Meeting that gaze, Tenchi's respect returned full force and he had to try hard to force his body not to shake on his way up to the throne.

As he finally stopped directly on front of the most powerful man in the galaxy, there was nothing left of the resolve he had gathered before entering. He stood there for a moment, painfully aware that his fear had to be evident on his face, then the emperor cleared his throat audibly. Confusion mixed into Tenchi's expression before he caught on to the hint and kneeled down, lowering his head.

"So you are Tenchi Masaki." It wasn't a question, but rather a statement of slight curiosity. Somehow it made Tenchi think of a beast, playing cruel games with its prey before it devoured them. "You may stand."

Tenchi followed suit and for the first time he noticed that the emperor was not alone. To the left and back of his throne was standing empress Achika of Jurai. As their eyes met for a second, he could see her mouth open in a silent gasp. But she was quick to restore her composure. The emperor didn't notice.

Suddenly Azusa stood from his seat, startling Tenchi half to death, and made an imperious gesture, including the entire hall.

"Leave us alone!" he ordered, directed at the handful of knights, who were guarding the audience chamber.

Tenchi didn't dare to turn his back on the emperor, but he could hear foot steps and then the sound of the door closing, telling him that the knights had followed the order. It was only the empress, the emperor and him now. There was no doubt in his mind that a man like Azusa would have no need for personal guards, if it came down to combat, but even so Tenchi wondered why he had sent them away. Something was going on and he didn't like it.

"So tell me, why did a promising young man like you team up with a pirate like Ryoko?" Azusa started the interrogation after he had taken his seat again.

It was an easy enough question to start with, but unfortunately Tenchi still hadn't found an answer to it himself, so he remained silent. The emperor's expression didn't change, but suddenly his eyes went ablaze with fury.

"Answer me!" he shouted.

"I... I didn't team up with her," Tenchi sputtered out immediately.

He didn't need to look at Azusa to know that he had made a mistake. Frightened by the emperor's sudden outburst, he had automatically told him the same lie he kept telling to himself.

"Are you taking me for a fool? First you assist her in stealing a holy treasure of Jurai, then you help her escape from the Grand Space Prison and now you are telling me that you didn't team up with her? I don't have time for such petty games!" The last words he had shouted again.

"But I don't know. Things just kept happening. I didn't want it to turn out like this," Tenchi tried to defend himself desperately. Unfortunately, the emperor mistook his meaning.

"Oh yes, you didn't want it to turn out like this and you will realize how right you were before long, believe me." Azusa had calmed down somewhat and now his voice was as cold as steel.

Suddenly the empress stepped forward to face her husband.

"I know how important this is, but do you have to scare him like that, dear?" she asked.

Strangely, just hearing her voice filled Tenchi with reassurance and restored some of his confidence. He looked at her and her eyes told him, that as long as she was here, Azusa wouldn't harm him.

"But... I..." The emperor was obviously taken off guard by Achika's interference. For a moment he looked at her at a loss of words, then he turned back to face Tenchi and tried to cover up the awkward situation by clearing his throat before he continued. "Very well. So you don't know. But maybe you know what you were doing in that confiscation hangar, or where exactly Ryoko is right now and what she intends on doing with the book."

"I was looking for my ship, the Yagami. As for Ryoko..." Tenchi had decided that it might be best to stay with the truth from now on, but it proved to be more difficult than he had thought. It was ridiculous, but somehow he felt like a traitor. One of the reasons he had helped Ryoko escape to begin with was so she wouldn't fall into the hands of the Juraians. "... I don't know where she is or what she's doing."

"Better not try my patience, boy," Azusa advised, keeping his emotions under control for now.

Suddenly Tenchi remembered something important. He cursed himself for not saying it right away, but he had been too scared to think straight.

"But I know that Ryoko is not in possession of the book anymore," he was quick to add.

"So who is the one who has it then? Maybe you?"

"No, it was taken by the space pirate Kagato," Tenchi stated, proud to finally be able to provide some knowledge.

Azusa was visibly taken aback. He leaned back in his chair. All the anger and impatience had left his face. To Tenchi it almost seemed like he had paled a bit.

"Kagato," he murmured to himself.

Endless seconds passed, in which nobody spoke. The emperor seemed totally lost in thought, making Tenchi wonder what the name meant to him, to make him lose his composure like this. Finally Azusa straightened himself up again, ready to ask another question.

"So I take it you have no idea of Kagato's whereabouts either?" It was actually more of a statement, because this time it didn't seem like he really expected an answer.

Tenchi remained silent.

"I see." The emperor rose from his seat once more. "I guess that is enough for today. Maybe we will talk again later. Guards!"

The sound of the door and the foot steps told Tenchi that two knights had come storming into the room. They stepped up right behind him and out of the corner of his eye he could see them bow deeply before the emperor.

"Take him away," Azusa ordered and made a matching gesture with his hand.

The two knights did as they were told.

* * *

The trip through the unlimited depths of space was bearable for a pilot only because he could see his steady progress visually proven by the stars rushing past him. However, the stars were passing by the little Galian Crusher in an excruciating slow motion. The small ship was moving through hyperspace, but with a speed that gave reason to fear that it might fall back into normal space the next instant.

"You better hope we never meet again, because if we do, you are going to suffer."

The words died away quickly in the small room. The bridge was submerged in an uneasy twilight. Darkness prevailed and only in those places where control panels were built into the grey metal it was shoved away by an unpleasant green light. Such a trace of green light was also cast over the face of the ship's single occupant.

"That can't be all this piece of junk has to offer. The energy output is still at one hundred percent, so where's the damn problem?"

A dark green gleam joined the angry spark in her eyes as she moved in closer to the control panel. She entered some commands, but the ship didn't speed up in the slightest.

"Shit!" she cursed, her head being swallowed up by the darkness again.

She kept sitting there for a while like this, head rested against the seat, staring at the front screen, much like she was trying to break the will of the ship with her thoughts. Then she made a frustrated sound and averted her attention towards the control panel once more.

Without doubt the guy had ripped her off. What was strange, because Nagi had dealt with him earlier and he had always made the impression of a trustworthy business partner. Obviously a lot of things had changed within the span of two years.

Once she had finished this mission the guy would have hell to pay. If his idea of a "fast" ship was such a pile of junk, which was falling back to minimal hyperspace velocity after only two hours at top speed, he really was desperately in need of being straightened out by someone.

"Well...," Nagi said cynically. "... guess I should be glad that it's moving at all."

She requested the time it would take her to reach her destination at current speed and a number with multiple digits appeared on screen. A loud curse reverberated throughout the bridge.

Three days. The Kenryo would have been able to reach the planet in under 24 hours. Unfortunately, her own ship wasn't available and so she had to make do with what she could get, like it or not. And that was, no denying it, a scrap heap.

This realization, together with the fact that time played only a subordinate role in her plan, helped her to get a hold of her anger. Slowly she stood, walked past the glowing green displays and left the twilight that was the bridge.

Complete darkness defined corridor. Nagi had to walk it through almost completely before the lighting mechanism finally picked up on her presence. In the now dim glow of the narrow corridor, a door became visible. It was wide open and Nagi knew that only a technician would be able to change this condition.

Quickly she stepped into the room behind the door, threw herself onto the bed, folded her hands behind her head and stared upwards. As she realized that this was exactly the position she had spent most of the past two years in, a barely noticeable smile crossed her face. However, she wasn't able to enjoy her regained freedom for long, because her thoughts were already returning to the source of all her problems. Ryoko.

Although her mind wasn't clouded by it anymore, she was still filled with an abysmal hate. Ryoko was a traitor. She had left the battlefield back then just because she had felt challenged by some crazy GP pilot. Only 19 years ago Nagi wouldn't have expected any different from her. She would have done the same without hesitation. A pirate needed to care only about himself and this also applied to bounty hunters. But they had agreed to raid together all those years ago. It had been inevitable for a concept of teamwork to enter their relationship. Nagi had thought such a thing impossible, but their first job together had been a success. Of course there had been a couple of quarrels working out the plan, but in the end everyone had played his role perfectly. Thus they had been able to overcome all obstacles and finally escape with their precious loot. Even though their price withered soon after, the mission had served its purpose. Their internal bonds had grown stronger and they had made themselves a name in the galaxy.

From there on they had stuck together in almost every job. Nagi couldn't say that she had made friends with her arch rival or developed an overly intimate relationship with Kagato, but she had come to accept them as partners and as time passed a mutual trust had developed between them. Only because of this the sweeping success of the pirate trio had been possible. They had been invincible, nothing and nobody dared to cross their path... until that fateful day two years ago.

Nagi clenched her fists. She would make Ryoko pay for destroying everything they had build over those 17 years just for fun. Her anger threatening to overwhelm her once again, she stood, took her newly acquired weapon with her right and executed a couple of aggressive attacks against an invisible opponent. Her movements seemed lithe enough, but she realized that she was still lacking in speed, power and accuracy. Two years in a cell had obviously left their traces.

Somewhat frustrated about her own weakness Nagi holstered the staff and dropped to sit on the edge of the bed. In her current condition she would stand no chance in hand to hand combat against Ryoko. She had already been made painfully aware of that during their fight in the cell block. Back then her hatred had given her the power to withstand Ryoko for a short time, but if she wanted to really hurt her rival, she had to chose another tactic for now.

Nagi wasn't stupid. She knew that there were other ways to hurt a person than only by physical violence. And judging by all the things she had learned since her escape she had the strong suspicion that there was a person who meant a lot to Ryoko.

As for herself, she had only caught a glimpse of Tenchi Masaki. At the time the door to the cell block exploded, she had immediately recognized it as her chance and had escaped through the suffocating smoke, towards freedom. Only vaguely she had seen the shape of a dark haired young man, who had obviously been waiting for the smoke to clear. He hadn't been wearing a GP uniform, so Nagi had come to the conclusion that he had either come to rescue Ryoko, or more unlikely both of them.

He didn't seem to have noticed her and thus she hadn't paid him any heed either, but had run down the corridor to be greeted by the wide opened doors of the lift at its end. After she had crushed the small device, that had obviously kept the doors open, and the cabin started to move downwards, she knew that the most difficult part of her escape was accomplished. The hangars were located on the lowest level. Once she had reached it, it was only a matter of time and patience until she would have been able to take control of one of the small ships.

So in fact, it almost seemed like she had to thank Masaki. But... Nagi smiled sadly... by now she had learned that rescuing her hadn't been part of the plan to begin with. Masaki had been there only to free his partner. He had been there to rescue Ryoko and that was the reason Nagi was going to kill him.

The light, that crept into the room from the corridor, went out. And her thoughts became just as dark as her surroundings.

She had been really surprised to find that Masaki had been that crazy pilot, who had nudged Ryoko into breaking up their alliance on that fateful day. Nagi could only guess what had happened between the two, but he had turned traitor to the GP and so she thought it likely that, although there wasn't any evidence, they had been working together from that day on.

Ryoko wasn't the person who carelessly chose a partner. He definitely meant something to her. And everything that was dear to Ryoko, she would destroy.

Nagi got up, stepped out in the corridor and crossed it even before the lighting had a chance to react to her presence.

Fortunately, the information on members of the Galaxy Police were easy to access. Tenchi Masaki was on the wanted list, but he still had a file as GP officer.

Cold green light pierced Nagi's eyes as she returned to her place in the pilot's chair.

Such a file containing almost all personal information was indeed a valuable thing. She directed her eyes on the display. She had no idea of Masaki's whereabouts right then, but she was going to find out soon. Another 71 hours, then she would reach Arret and there had to be someone there who could tell her. If not, she was quite confident that if harm would befall his family, he would eventually hear about it and return.

Nagi knew that it wasn't fair to get innocent persons involved, but she was determined to do anything in her might to make Ryoko suffer.

* * *

Tenchi woke with a start. For a moment his gaze darted around unfocused, while his memories slowly returned. After his talk with the emperor of Jurai he had been brought back into his cell and must have fallen asleep trying to make some sense of the most recent happenings. But now something had woken him.

He strained his ears. His day and night rhythm had been totally confused, since he had been in space for a long time and after he had left for the GSP together with Burak's pirates he had to sleep when there was time, regardless of galactic standard time. However, he was fairly certain that right now it was night on Jurai, simply because the light in the cell block had been lowered almost to the point of complete darkness. Tenchi couldn't hear anything around him, except the silent rustling of the living walls. He was just about to lie back down, as the room was suddenly bathed in a blinding light. The change from almost total darkness to such a bright white was so intense, that it brought tears to Tenchi's eyes and he was unable to suppress a pained moan.

Steps became audible and before long Tenchi could make out the shape of a Juraian guard through his watering eyes.

"Come on," the man said. His voice wasn't as commanding as that of the one who had picked him up the last time, but there was no trace of kindness in it either.

"Where to?" Tenchi asked, rubbing his eyes, not about to follow the invitation. Some very unpleasant thoughts entered his mind as he tried to imagine where a prisoner could possibly be taken in the middle of the night.

The hint of a smile appeared on the face of the guard. Obviously it wasn't that difficult to imagine what exactly was going on in Tenchi's mind, for the man explained in a reassuring tone.

"You don't need to be afraid. There's someone waiting outside, who wants to talk to you. Now hurry up already."

He opened the cell and waited for the young man's reaction. After another moment of hesitation, Tenchi actually stood and slowly stepped up to the guard. Only then he realized, that the man wasn't a mere guard. He was wearing the traditional garb of a Juraian knight. The situation was getting more and more perplexing. Whatever was a knight doing here at this hour?

"Who wants to talk to me?" Tenchi asked, finally stepping out of the cell. He knew nobody here on Jurai.

The knight's only answer was to close the cell behind him and make an inviting gesture towards the exit. Tenchi repeated his question, but found it ignored again.

Reluctantly he walked past the man and continued down the small wooden corridor in front of him. Before long they left the cell block again and were now walking the same wide passageway, Tenchi had been led down not too long ago.

However, unlike his earlier visit to the emperor, this time Tenchi was feeling no fear, just that special kind of apprehensive curiosity caused by a mystery better left unsolved.

They left the passageway, taking a smaller corridor with insufficient lighting. The dark tunnel was a somewhat disturbing sight, so Tenchi slowed down automatically.

"Keep going. I was ordered not to harm you and I will follow this order as long as you don't try anything foolish."

"Alright, alright," Tenchi mumbled speeding up his pace again.

Seemingly at random they kept crossing from one corridor to the next. Tenchi had long since lost his orientation, as they finally reached what he identified as another teleportation chamber. It was smaller than the one he had been led to earlier and somehow he couldn't help the feeling, that it wasn't used as frequently. He wondered if that might be the reason they had taken such a major detour instead of just using the main platform. Perhaps his guide wanted to avoid drawing too much attention. If that was true, he had done an excellent job. They hadn't met a single person on their way here.

After using the transporter, they found themselves in a room which looked exactly like the one they had just left. Tenchi's assumption that something might have been wrong with the transporter, however, was quickly proved wrong by his escort. The knight stepped to the side, gesturing for him to go ahead.

The corridor that followed was actually quite different from the ones they had walked down before. It was even darker, making it absolutely impossible to see any farther than a couple of meters. From the little Tenchi was able to distinguish, it seemed like the tunnel was supported by two rows of small pillars. But beyond them, he could see only darkness.

"Where are we?" he asked, still trying to make out more details. To his slight surprise he actually got an answer this time.

"This is one of the ways down to the Royal Woods."

"The Royal Woods?" Tenchi repeated warily.

He didn't like the idea to enter a wood in the middle of the night, be it royal or not. But unfortunately he wasn't the one to decide where to go, so he just kept walking. Though he still was in a very unfavorable position, by now his curiosity had been peaked as well. Who would ever want to meet him in the Royal Woods at this time?

After a while something changed in the darkness in front of them. Another couple of steps and Tenchi realized what it was. What was lying ahead of them wasn't the cold darkness of the tunnel anymore, it was now the semi-darkness of a starry night.

As they stepped out into the open, he felt a fresh, but not yet unpleasant breeze caressing his face. Tenchi closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The air held a promise of leafs and lush grass. It had been so long ago he had last experienced a scent like this. He couldn't help but to think of home all of a sudden. Before he had a chance to get any more sentimental, however, he heard a gentle, yet firm voice behind him.

"Thank you, Barai. We are going to take a walk now. Please stay here until we have finished our conversation."

Tenchi whirled around in surprise, to look into a face, which he had first seen no more than a couple of hours ago. But now that they were closer, it appeared strangely familiar to him.

"But my empress, you can't expect me to leave you alone with a criminal," the knight protested.

But the empress touched the arm of the man in an appeasing gesture and spoke in a tone he couldn't possibly oppose.

"You are going to stay here. What I have to discuss with our guest should remain between him and me only. Besides, I'm fairly certain that he is not as dangerous as everybody seems to think." At her last words she gave Tenchi a strange look, but before he got a chance to confirm his harmlessness, she continued. "And even if he was... as the empress of Jurai I should be able to defend myself, don't you think?"

Her piercing look made the knight visibly uncomfortable.

"Of course you are. I just wanted..."

"... my very best," Achika finished for him. "I appreciate your concern, Barai. But the danger I am facing, that we are all facing, does not stem from this young man. So please follow my order and stay here."

"As you wish," Barai mumbled. "But please be careful."

Achika nodded and turned to meet a totally confused Tenchi with a smile.

"So let's take a walk then."

For some time they walked next to each other in silence. Tenchi felt a lot of questions burning in his mind, but he knew that he wasn't the one to start their conversation. So he just kept listening to the low sounds, his steps produced on the narrow path, waiting for the empress to reveal the reason for their nightly encounter.

To the right and left of the pathway the trees were standing close enough to be merged into a black mass by the darkness. The night wasn't as starry as he had first thought. Although many constellations unknown to him were sparkling in the sky, now and then large clouds moved to submerge the planet in a pale grey.

They reached a clearing with what seemed like some kind of wooden bench in the middle of it. Achika stopped. Tenchi halted his pace as well and cast a questioning look at the empress. For a second it seemed almost like her spirit had left her body and was now walking a different sphere. But then she blinked and an apologizing smile crossed her face.

"I often come here. Sometimes I will just sit here for hours." She moved her head, pointing at the center of the clearing. "Then I will feel the wind in my hair and listen to the whisper of the trees."

"It's a nice place," Tenchi heard himself saying, though it was exactly the opposite of what he was feeling, looking at the threatening darkness around them.

"A nice place..." Achika shook her head slowly. There was a sad undertone to her voice now. "... maybe it once was. But much time has passed since then."

She walked over to the bench and Tenchi followed. Without another word she sat down on the piece of wood, which seemed like it had grown right out of the ground. Tenchi hesitated shortly and then placed himself next to her, making sure to leave some distance between them.

"So why did you want to talk to me?" he asked after a while, feeling that this might be the right time to try and start a conversation.

Achika gave him another strange look and a somewhat disappointing answer.

"It's nothing special. I'm just curious about you." There was another pause before the empress continued. "About 20 years ago this clearing was one of my favorite places. Back then this bench didn't exist. The entire ground was covered by lush grass and at the times the leaves didn't whisper, it was possible to hear the low rippling of the small river nearby."

Tenchi tried to concentrate, but other than the scary song of the wind there was nothing to be heard.

"For a long time it seemed like the space pirate Ryoko had been responsible for the terrible loss my family had to suffer back then."

Achika's face now wore an expression of terrible bitterness. After a second, Tenchi couldn't hold her gaze anymore. He looked away.

"I..." he wanted to say something, anything, but Achika ignored him and continued with newfound resolve.

"It turned out that she hadn't anything to do with it after all, but after such a long time of grief and hatred, I didn't find it within myself to forgive her."

Tenchi felt very uncomfortable. He knew that the youngest descendant of the royal family had been killed during the legendary raid of the pirate trio about two decades ago. The mere prospect of Ryoko killing an innocent baby made him shiver. Maybe she hadn't done it, but it made him realize how little he really knew about the pirate.

"I'm sorry," he said with a guilty look.

"I know," Achika replied slowly. "And unlike my dear husband I believe you."

Tenchi lifted his head in surprise. "You believe me?" he repeated incredulously.

"Yes I do. I simply can't imagine a nice young man like you being the partner of the dreaded space pirate. I don't think you approve of her crimes. Am I right?"

"You are right," Tenchi answered without hesitation, hoping that the empress wasn't going to ask why he had been travelling together with the pirate if he wasn't her partner.

Achika nodded. "I see." Her serious expression faded into a smile. "I said I was curious about you and I still am. Tell me something about you, Tenchi. Where are you from?"

Tenchi returned the smile, glad that the dangerous moment had passed. "Well... my home is a small planet called Arret. It's a lot like Jurai. Woods as wide as the eye can see, endless plains, lakes with fresh blue water and lots of fishes." A grin found its way to his face as he thought of his very first fishing experience.

"Arret must be an amazing planet," Achika affirmed as he didn't continue.

"Oh yes. At least the area where we were living. Of course there are huge industrial cities as well, but I only visited one of them once or twice."

"Hmm," Achika looked at him expectantly, but Tenchi didn't know what else to tell her.

"My mother is still living there. But I..." He hesitated for a second before he finished the sentence with a lie. "After dropping out of the GP I didn't have the time to visit her anymore."

"That's a pity," Achika said and turned to gaze into the darkness of the wood in front of her.

Tenchi remained quiet. Some minutes of unpleasant silence passed until the empress finally spoke again.

"You seem to be a very nice young man. Maybe it's a mistake. Maybe it's just because you remind me of someone, but I trust you, Tenchi." Something in her voice had changed, instantly catching Tenchi's attention. "You were right. There is a special reason I wanted to talk to you."

She turned to face him again and in her eyes he could read that she was going to tell him something very important.

"Say, what do you know about the goddess Tsunami?" she asked.

Tenchi winced. He had almost forgotten about his strange experience with the Holy Book of Jurai, but the name made him remember. It probably wouldn't be such a good idea to tell her about what had happened as he opened the book, so he just answered the question like he would have answered it three days ago, trying his best to cover his nervousness.

"She's part of Jurai's origin myth, right? We were told about it in the galactic history lessons at the academy." He looked at the empress for confirmation and she nodded. "But not in too much detail..." he added with an apologetic smile.

"According to the legend, Tsunami is the mother of the trees of Jurai. Countless millennia ago she lived together with her children, the Juraians, taking an active role in their society. However, one day she realized, that her children had grown and she decided to let them find their own path. So she gave a handful of seedlings to the elders of ancient Jurai, in order for them to grow them into mighty trees, which would protect them from the hazards of the galaxy in her stead. Then Tsunami went to sleep. An eternal sleep of which she would never be awakened." Having finished the story, Achika looked at Tenchi, a smile tugging at her lips.

"So it really happened?" he guessed, genuine wonder in his voice.

The question or the way he posed it must have had something extraordinarily amusing to it, for Achika laughed out loud and it took her a while until she was able to speak again.

"No Tenchi, it's just a myth. Of course there are still a handful of Juraians who believe in it, but their number decreases from generation to generation. Most members of the royal family, myself included, do not even believe in it anymore. Tsunami has become a symbol, no more, no less."

If it was just a legend, Tenchi wondered why she had told him the story in the first place. Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long for Achika to continue her story. Her smile had disappeared and her tone had become very serious again.

"But there is a hint of truth in every legend." She made a short pause, looking up into the sky. "And this applies for the origin myth as well. The Holy Book of Jurai is the proof."

"The Holy Book of Jurai..." Tenchi repeated in awe. "What's written in it?" He bit his tongue, but the empress didn't seem to mind his curiosity.

"It's a mystery. Some royals say that it is a relic of Tsunami's age, which was left behind by the goddess herself. Nobody really knows, not even my husband, because the book has been sealed by our forebears a long time ago, never to be opened again."

Tenchi was confused. He had always thought that for a book to be considered holy, at least someone had to know what was written in it.

"But if the book contained historical knowledge, why would they seal it?" he voiced his thoughts in a question.

"They eventually realized that some of the secrets of the book were supposed to be left untouched. If it had fallen into the wrong hands, the knowledge within might have enabled a person to wreak havoc on Jurai and the entire galaxy," Achika explained calmly.

By then, Tenchi was really taken aback. He couldn't believe that he had caught a glimpse of ancient writings that had been sealed for centuries, maybe even millennia. The irony in that idea was simply ridiculous. He still had his doubts.

"But how do you know this is all true, if nobody ever looked inside for such a long time?"

Achika looked him directly in the eyes with a stern expression, making him fear that he might have gone too far, might have asked the wrong question. Then she spoke quietly.

"What I'm going to tell you now, Tenchi, is something only me and my husband are supposed to know. You might call it the dark secret of Jurai and it must be kept a secret at all costs."

Tenchi nodded slowly. He had no idea what she was talking about, but for some reason she had decided to trust him and he was determined to not disappoint that trust. Obviously Achika acknowledged his silent promise, because she continued in the same low voice.

"There is a certain passage, which tells about the location of the resting place of Tsunami. Furthermore, it says, that for a true child of Jurai it might be possible to wake her and obtain her power." Tenchi was about to voice his doubts, but the empress signaled for him to stay patient with a gesture of her hand. "Wanting to see for himself if the book spoke the truth, one of the early emperors of Jurai traveled to the location described inside. As soon as he his feet touched the sacred ground, he felt a power, so intense, it threatened to overwhelm his mind. Being a wise man, he instantly knew that such power was not to be wielded by mankind. He had the book sealed and handed down the location, which came to be called Prayer's Grounds from there on, to his descendants, for them to protect it with their life. It has become kind of a tradition for the current emperor of Jurai to travel to the Prayer's Grounds once before he starts his reign, to feel for himself the terrible power slumbering there." She made a pause, giving Tenchi a chance to realize the meaning of what she just told him. "My husband has been there as well, has felt the power and there is no doubt in his mind that it needs to be protected."

Seconds passed, then minutes, in which they just sat there in silence. This was all too much for Tenchi's mind to process. Had the empress of Jurai just told him that the ancient origin goddess of Jurai really did exist, sleeping somewhere, promising to grant her powers to the one who would wake her? Although he had heard her words and understood their meaning, he wasn't yet able to fully grasp their significance. There was only one question he could think of at the moment and he just had to ask it, even though he knew that he probably wouldn't like the answer.

"I don't understand. Why are you telling me all of this?"

Achika sighed deeply in response. "I can't hold it against him with everything that happened, but I believe that all the worry and anger has clouded my husband's judgment. He doesn't realize that it isn't your intention to harm Jurai. I already tried to talk some sense into him, but he wouldn't listen. That's also why I told Barai to arrange this nightly meeting. If Azusa had known about it, he would never have allowed it."

Her face showed a mixture of regret and worry, which temporarily made Tenchi forget all the things he had just heard. He wanted to comfort her, but at the same time he knew that he couldn't.

"You are not safe if you stay here on Jurai. You need to leave the planet. Your ship should be prepared by now."

Tenchi gasped. First she told him all those things and now she was going to let him escape. He didn't understand how the empress had learned to trust him so much in such a short time.

"I wanted you to know what is really at stake here, so it might help you decide to do the right thing if it comes down to it. Be it willingly or not, you have been together with Ryoko for some time. You know her. Even if she's not in possession of the book anymore, maybe this connection will help you to find a way to restore the book. You might be the only one who can do it, Tenchi."

The way she spoke those words made Tenchi finally realize why she was putting so much faith in him. Achika was desperate. She was seeing something in him and it made her clutch at him like a straw. But he wasn't the rescuer she thought him to be. He had no idea of where to start searching for the book, or even Ryoko to begin with.

"But I..." he started, but then thought better of it. He felt shabby for betraying her trust, but if he destroyed her illusion, he would rob himself of what was possibly his last chance.

As she realized that he wasn't going to continue, Achika stood from her seat, closing the topic.

"We need to go now. Morning will break soon." She turned to leave in the direction they had come from.

Still occupied with his internal conflict, Tenchi noticed her leaving only as the darkness, which had been warded off by her presence, suddenly fell in on him. He was very quick to follow her.

Not a word was spoken on their way back to the place where they had first met. The distance seemed much greater to Tenchi now. But eventually the entrance to the tunnel, through which they had accessed the Royal Woods, came into sight. At the same time Barai stepped out of the shadows to meet them.

"I was getting worried. You were gone for almost two hours," he stated, half in relief, half in reprove.

Tenchi was surprised that it had only been two hours. It had appeared longer to him.

"It's alright. We had a lot to discuss," Achika reassured him. "I'm sorry, but I have another favor to ask of you," she continued.

"Please, do not apologize, my lady. I will always be at your service," Barai responded, making Tenchi wonder what sort of bond the empress and the knight shared.

"I know, but this time you might find it difficult to comply. I want you to lead Tenchi down into the city, to Seiden spaceport. A ship is waiting for him there, which he will use to leave Jurai."

Barai's face fell. "You are helping him to leave the planet!? But he's a criminal, a pirate! Why would you help him escape?"

"I trust him." Never had Tenchi thought that such finality could be expressed with only three words.

It was almost possible to observe Barai's internal struggle on his face. Most likely the contracting parties were his loyalty to the empire and his devotion to the empress. Finally the devotion won out.

"If you trust him, so do I."

"Thank you, Barai," Achika said with just a hint of relief. She turned to address Tenchi once more. "I guess this is good by then. I probably don't need to tell you that what we discussed tonight needs to remain between us."

"I won't tell anybody." Somehow the finality in which the empress had expressed her trust for him to Barai, had filled Tenchi with an unknown resolve. "Thank you for everything. I will try my best to make it up to you."

"I hope we will meet each other again one day, under better circumstances." She gave him another warm smile, then she bade Barai goodbye with a nod and turned around to vanish into the darkness.

"Well then, let's go," Barai decided.

Tenchi was glad to obey.

* * *

Chapter notes:

Forced by the circumstances, we had to try a new concept of writing for this chapter. There are scenes, which have been written by me and my sister, meaning that she wrote the first part and I the second. Those are the scene where Tenchi is being lead before the emperor and the one in which he speaks to Achika. Other than that I wrote the opening scene and the battle between Ryoko and Kagato. My sister contributed the scene with Nagi.

If you have some time, please drop me a review, telling me if I have lost my edge over all the time, or not.

Special thanks to Geor-sama, for smoothing things out some more.

See you in the next chapter, which hopefully won't take as long.


	14. Old Scores

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of their original creators and all those affiliated with them. I have neither created them, nor do I own them. Any new characters as well as the events within this story are created by me and my sister, so they are our property. This story is written for fun and as an homage to the world of Tenchi.

* * *

Chapter 13 - Old Scores

Just like for the last couple of hours the front screen showed countless brightly shining stars drifting by until they vanished into the darkness of space. However, to the attentive observer there was a difference. One of the illuminated objects didn't rush by. It actually seemed to be growing and had already become larger than the other small dots. In addition its light blue color deviated from the cold white of the other stars.

Tenchi was sitting in the pilot's chair, somewhat anxiously keeping his attention on the screen. Yet he wasn't really watching the approaching planet. His mind was already there, imagining how a mother whose son hadn't given a word for over two years would react to his sudden return. A wave of doubts washed over him.

--

When Barai led him to the space port he had had no clue about where to start searching for Ryoko. He wasn't even sure if it would really be a good idea to join up with her again. The trust the empress had placed in him had given him new confidence. He needed to walk his own path, even if it was a thorny one. She expected him to restore the Holy Book, to stop the danger connected with the knowledge within, to simply do the one and only right thing.

Surrounded by people of such noble thoughts as the empress or her knight Barai, Tenchi realized once again how wrong he had been teaming up with the space pirate. But at the same time he knew that Ryoko would be able to change his mind to her advantage if he joined her again.

Watching the devoted knight walking next to him, Tenchi came to the conclusion that it would be best to avoid the pirate's company for as long as possible. The only problem was that he wouldn't get any hint about the whereabouts of the book like that. Not to speak of a chance to actually reclaim it. It didn't matter if Kagato was still in possession of it, or if Ryoko had gotten it back, never would Tenchi be able to make them hand it to him.

Just in this moment, when Tenchi realized that the empress might have gravely overestimated his power and that there was no way for him to justify her trust, Barai spoke up for the first time since they had departed in the forest.

"We are almost there, so let me give you some advice. I don't know why our empress is helping you, but I know that noon at the latest, your escape will be discovered. Most of the fleet is under the emperor's control and he will do everything in his might to stop those who are trying to hurt the empire. Even our empress won't be able to protect you anymore by then. Take my advice and try to get as far away from the center of Juraian space as possible. Since that probably won't be far enough with the few hours you have, you might as well try to hide somewhere for a couple of weeks. Once things have calmed down a little, leave the Juraian space and do not even think about turning back."

Tenchi just nodded, well aware that Barai was only trying to act according to Achika's request. But maybe the knight was right after all. Maybe it was better if he didn't interfere in Juarain business anymore. Although he would betray the empress' trust like that, Tenchi didn't feel too comfortable at the thought of once again dealing with the mysterious Juarain book, the secrets within and the powerful people who were after them.

They finally reached the space port and Barai talked to an officer who seemed to be informed about what was going on. Together they took him to a hangar of medium size where a single ship was waiting.

Tenchi's eyes bulged out as he recognized the familiar shapes of the Yagami. His ship had found him once more.

"That's...," he started, but he found himself unable to believe what he was seeing and thus unable to finish the sentence.

"That's the vessel prepared for you by empress Achika. I suggest you stop standing there in awe and hurry inside or you might be caught again before you even get a chance to get your feet off the surface."

Barai's words helped Tenchi to get over his surprise. He said his thanks and goodbyes to the knight and made haste to enter the ship.

Whatever the empress had done, it must have been a lot, since nobody seemed to be bothered at all by the GP patrol ship lifting off over the capital in the middle of the night. As Tenchi left the atmosphere the sun was just rising over the horizon. Watching the deep green woods, overcast by a slight violet haze, he suddenly knew where he had to go. It wasn't really the result of logical thinking but more of a sudden strong emotional desire. He needed a familiar place to lie low for a while and think everything through. So why not try to reach Arret? It wouldn't take more than a day and with some luck he would be able to avoid the Juraians for that long. Of course there was a good chance that they would expect him to head there first, but √ Tenchi had to smile at the idea √ maybe they wouldn't think him to be stupid enough to meet their expectation.

--

Back then he had been totally convinced that returning to Arret was a good idea. But now, watching the palm sized planet on the front screen, he suddenly felt a strong urge to change destination.

Tenchi forced himself to relax. There was no need to panic at the mere thought of returning home. He closed his eyes and remembered the last time he had visited his mother. It had been a sunny day in fall. His mother had been standing in the entrance of their house, her dress moved by the cool wind. She had asked him to visit again as soon as possible and he had promised that they would celebrate the turn of the year together, eliciting a smile from her. Much to his discomfort she had hugged him then.

Tenchi couldn't remember all the details of their goodbye conversation, but he remembered her last words. They had been the same she always said at the times he set out for space again and they were part of the reason he had never tried to contact her after his exilation.

A flashing light on the screen startled him out of his thoughts. Arret had grown to an impressive size already. It was time to concentrate on the landing procedure. Tenchi slowed the flight of the Yagami and carefully approached the blue planet.

As he entered the ionosphere, he thanked the heavens that he hadn't encountered any Juraians on his way here. He knew that it was an illusion, but now that he was shielded by his home planet, he felt save for the time.

He let the Yagami cut through the sky and focused on the huge isle nation where he had once lived. A strange emotional mixture of joy and fear gripped his heart.

"Be brave, Tenchi. I know you will make me a proud mother."

Unfortunately, he had failed her in both points.

* * *

Although she had successfully accomplished her objective of reclaiming the book from Kagato, irritation was already rising up inside of Ryoko again. The hyperspace collapse and the following battle seemed to have taken their toll on the Souja's engines after all. She wasn't getting much more than 50 percent of maximum capacity. Now, with the Souja, that didn't mean that she was crawling through hyperspace, but it was still a little too slow for the pirate's taste. If Kagato's word was to be trusted, the Juraians would soon be putting the entire sector upside down, searching for them. By then she needed to be as far away as possible.

Saying that Ryoko wasn't the one, who ran at the first sight of danger would have been an understatement, but she wouldn't have lived so long if she didn't know her limits. She was pretty confident that she could take on one or even two medium class Juraian war ships, but anything above that number and she might be in for a beating.

But then there also was the problem of where to go. Had the situation been different, she would have tried to return to Washu, in order to pick up Tenchi and maybe get some more information on the book, but with the Juraians around, it would be too dangerous to backtrack her own course for hours. Right now she was moving on a random course with no particular destination.

Every time she tried to come up with a plan on what to do next, her thoughts would return to the most recent events. The demonic Shade, Tenchi's betrayal, Kagato returning the book to her all of a sudden. It was quite hard to make sense of all the strange stuff that had happened and try to think of a plan at the same time. The book had to contain some extremely valuable information, judging from the number of parties, who wanted to claim it for themselves.

Ryoko took another look at the empty pages of the book lying open in her lap. Unfortunately, they were still just as empty as the last time she had checked them. She turned a couple of pages, her anger rising to a dangerous level, then slammed the book shut and threw it to the ground next to her seat in the same movement. What use were all the valuable information of the universe if she couldn't access them?

Not wanting to waste anymore time with the cursed book and at a loss of anything else to do, Ryoko used the Souja's sensors to scan the area once more. She didn't really expect the Juraians to show up so quickly, but if they did she wasn't going to be caught by surprise.

The scan confirmed her assumption. There were no Juraian ships out there at the moment. However, there was something else. It was a signal, so weak, she had almost overlooked it in her scan. Upon closer inspection, the pirate realized that it had a Juraian com signature. Whatever could that mean? The signal was too weak to be a message from a Juraian, which she intercepted accidentally and she was pretty sure that they would code their transmissions, so that it wouldn't be possible to intercept them anyway. Maybe it was a trap?

'Well, there's only one way to find out,' Ryoko thought and opened a com channel with the same frequency as the incoming signal.

"Anyone out there?" she asked, feeling just a little silly.

Silence was the only answer she got, just like she had expected. She was about to close the connection, in order to not reveal her position to anyone who might be listening in on it, as she heard a low crackling and then a voice.

"Indeed there is." It was the voice of a woman.

Ryoko instantly had a strong feeling that she was supposed to know the speaker, but with all the things that had happened recently, she didn't know where to place her immediately.

"Who are you and what do you want?" she asked harshly. There was still the chance that this was just a trick of the Juraians to try and determine her position.

"I'm surprised that you forget about your customers so quickly, Miss Ryoko. It makes me wonder if you are really such a great pirate..."

"I remember already," Ryoko interrupted her. Her manner of speech had given her away as the strange Juraian royal, who had entrusted her with the same mission as Shade. That was to acquire the Holy Book for her. She hadn't really expected her to show up again, but she was only slightly surprised, because by now she had come to understand that everything was possible when it came to the book. "How did you find me?"

The well-mannered laughter of the woman rang out through the com, making the pirate remember her irritation.

"With all the commotion you caused it was impossible not to find you," the woman explained once she had given way to her amusement.

Ryoko bit back a sharp response. After all she was right, the hyperspace breakdown must have been visible like a flare for everyone. And besides she didn't have the time to argue with the woman. Someone might already be tracking their signal.

"So here I am. Why not tell me what you want already?"

"Well, isn't it obvious? Things might not have worked out quite as planned for you, but we still have a deal. Do you have the book with you now?" the woman asked, unable to completely hide her anticipation.

"What if I had?" Ryoko answered evasively.

"I would give you the coordinates of where to meet me, so we could finally finish our business."

"There are supposed to be a lot of your comrades out there. Someone might listen in on this conversation," the pirate pointed out, only to be laughed at once again.

"They will not even take notice of this signal and even if they did, to them it would be no more than an echo created by their own com system."

The trick was as simple as it was effective and it made Ryoko wonder if the mysterious woman had been hiding from the Juraians for a while as well.

"Well then. I'm listening."

"Do you have the book?"

"You'll find out soon enough." This time it was Ryoko's turn to strain the woman's patience.

There was a moment of silence, then the coordinates came rolling in. Ryoko was about to confirm their receipt, but the woman had already closed the connection. She shrugged it off.

"Might as well give this a try."

Maybe she was going to get some more information about the book from this client. And maybe she was even going to take her payment. It would probably be more useful to her than a book with nothing but empty pages.

Still, somehow the thought of handing the book to someone just like that gave her a bad feeling and she cursed herself for it. She was a pirate. It was her job to steal stuff and hand it to those who hired her without caring about the nature of her loot or the motives of her clients. Some unexpected things might have happened, but she wasn't about to change her profession because of them.

Trying her best to ignore the doubts still gnawing at the very back of her mind, she set a course for the new coordinates. At least she had a destination now, about everything else she was going to worry later.

* * *

The sun was shining brightly in the sky. The air was calm and yet rather cool. Drops of water glinted on the grass covering the ground, where there remained brown patches of rotting leaves from the last year.

Tenchi's feet moved slowly above the ground of his homeland, his gaze wandered around in silent joy. Nothing had changed since he had visited here the last time. The wood was as lush and lively as he had remembered it. Spring had always been one of his favorite seasons but never had he felt such a strong emotion of happiness just watching the tender little leaves covering the branches of the high trees, hearing the sound of various birds greeting the new day and smelling the scent of fresh wood.

He couldn't put a finger on it, but the wood on Arret was totally different from the Royal Woods of Jurai. While he had felt kind of threatened by the incredible wisdom of the old whispering trees, he couldn't remember ever having been scared of Arret's trees, not even at night. They had always been friends to him.

Tenchi climbed to the top of a small hill and remained standing there, staring straight ahead. There it was. The house he had spent his childhood in, the place he called home. He felt a stab in his heart at the thought of returning there after all he had done. His mother was living far from the next settlement, but his mother had always been well informed about what was happening on the planet and in the galaxy. No doubt she knew about the recent changes in his career.

Although he was terribly afraid, Tenchi knew that he had to face his mother now. So he gathered his courage and moved on. Crossing the forest with a swift determination, he wondered why he felt such a strong need to talk to his mother all of a sudden. There had to be a reason for his intuition somewhere, but he was unable to find it just yet. However, there were more important matters at hand. For example what exactly he would say to greet his mother.

He hadn't reached a final result when he was already standing in front of the entrance of the small house. Knowing that if he hesitated now he would never do it, he raised his hand to knock. His fist approached the door, but didn't make contact, instead it remained in mid air directly in front of it. Tenchi's heart was racing, his limbs frozen with anxiety. Then the door was opened from inside and the slim figure of his mother appeared in the doorway. She was wearing a simple dress with apron and her dark hair came around over her right shoulder, tied in a plait. Tenchi was shocked at how old she looked.

"Hello," he said, trying to smile. But his mother neither seemed surprised nor pleased by his sudden appearance.

"Hello Tenchi," she answered in a sad voice.

Tenchi held her gaze only for a few seconds until he couldn't bear it anymore. He lowered his head and spoke barely audible. "There are a lot of things I have to explain, I guess."

"Indeed there are," she confirmed, still without emotion and stepped back from the door. "Come in."

Tenchi was relieved. For a moment he had been sure that she would send him away. Quickly he entered, closed the door, took off his shoes and went after his mother. She was waiting for him in the living room, pointing at the table.

"Take a seat. I have prepared a cup of tea." Then she vanished into the kitchen.

Tenchi didn't do as he was asked. Instead he remained standing in the middle of the room and looked around. Not much had changed, yet somehow he felt like a total stranger. His gaze wandered to a couple of framed pictures hanging at the wall near the table. He didn't need to move any closer to recognize them as pictures showing himself as a kid, but he stepped close up anyway. A faint smile flittered over is face as he remembered the situations projected on those images. The day he had tried fishing for the first time, the day they had celebrated his tenth birthday, the day he had looked quite happy standing beside his mother, her arm wrapped around his shoulder. Tenchi held his breath as he realized that it was the same motive which he had placed on the wall of his quarters inside the Yagami, the one which was standing perfectly framed on a table in Ryoko's room now. Ryoko...

"Times change fast, don't they?" His mother spoke up behind him.

"They do." Tenchi whispered and watched his mother pour the steaming tea into two cups. Then she knelt down on the mat next to the table without a word and Tenchi took his place as well.

Seconds passed in which neither of them spoke and after a while Tenchi realized that his mother seemed to be studying his appearance.

"That Juraian outfit suits you quite well."

Tenchi returned her gaze slightly surprised and embarrassed at the same time. "It's... no better than a GP uniform."

"But certainly more comfortable than that of a Juraian guard?"

Tenchi swallowed hard. Any hope that his mother did not know what he had done was crushed by those words.

"It's not like it appears to be. I never wanted to do anything like that." Tenchi heard himself bubbling in self-defense. "All I wanted was to catch Ryoko. That was why I came to the moon base. But then... she stole the book and I was unable to stop her. I had no choice but to escape with her," he concluded, a hint of desperation having sneaked its way into his voice.

His mother didn't look at him. She took a sip and kept staring into the hot liquid.

"As much as I want to, I can't believe in your story."

"But..."

A glance of her dark eyes instantly silenced him.

"Listen Tenchi. You know that I was very proud of my son being in the GP. You've been always so ambitious fighting for the right in the galaxy." She took another sip, put the cup down and looked at Tenchi again. "As I heard the news that you had turned traitor to the GP and joined a space pirate, I did not believe it. I thought it was a mistake, that they would probably realize their error quickly and fix it. But..." She lowered her head. "Neither did the GP administration revoke your exclusion nor did you show up, telling me that they were wrong."

"I... I was afraid you..."

"Oh, yes." His mother interrupted him. "I talked myself into believing this, too. But as a man came to me and asked me questions about the robbery at the Juraian moon base, showing me your picture... I... I had to accept the truth. I don't know why and maybe I don't even want to know, but you have changed, Tenchi."

"No, I haven't!" he shouted in despair. "You don't even listen to me. It was a guy called Trake who told everyone I was a traitor. I was the one who captured Nagi two years ago, but he used the opportunity for his own advantage and made me stand out as a deserter."

His mother looked at him, voicing her doubts. "But if you knew all that, why didn't you just fix it up?"

"Well, I...," he bit his lip. "I didn't know it was him who was acting against me that time. I thought I'd done something wrong. There was no turning back."

But instead of his mother replying a deep male voice announced, "The same applies for now. It's time to go."

Tenchi turned around. There was an old man standing in the entrance. His arms folded behind his back he gazed at Tenchi through his glasses with a piercing look.

"Grandpa!" he shouted in joy, but his smile quickly vanished as he became aware of the serious look the old man was giving him. No, Tenchi corrected himself, he wasn't just looking at him, he was reading his thoughts, his feelings.

"Where do I need to go?" he asked totally confused.

The old man pushed his glasses on his nose and answered in a grave tone.

"That decision is yours. As for now, come with me."

Tenchi looked at his mother, but she just nodded. So he stood up and went past the old man to the exit.

"When will you be back?" he heard his mother asking and saw that the grandfather was giving her a meaningful glance.

Silence fell and bad presentiments came to Tenchi's mind. Than the old man spoke up, smiling mischievously.

"In time for lunch."

But his grin faded away instantly as he turned around to face Tenchi.

"Let's go," he said and pushed the boy out of his mother's house.

* * *

Still infuriated about the news Kagato had brought him, Yosho stormed across the bridge of his ship towards a holographic screen, displaying status readouts. His fingers swept nervously over the wooden panel below.

"Come on, you bastard. Send the coordinates or I'll kill you," he hissed.

They had parted a couple of minutes ago and Yosho had watched his hated business partner teleport away. Kagato must have arrived on the Soto-oh even before he himself had made the first steps on Funaho. So what the hell was taking him so long?

Yosho's fist crashed down onto the panel, activating a com link.

"Kagato," he shouted his voice trembling with anger. "Don't try my patience. I will destroy you and your damned ship if you don't send the coordinates right now!"

"You are being too impatient," Kagato's calm voice sounded through the com. "I'm not a man who breaks his word."

"Well, then...," Yosho was about to clearly state his point again, but stopped himself as a couple of numbers scrolled over the screen. "Fine," he said and deactivated the com link.

With a simple thought he commanded Funaho to visualize the location described by the coordinates he had just received. An image of the planet he was currently on appeared and zoomed out until even the Jurai home world could be seen. Disappointed he realize that the coordinates seemed to indicate nothing but empty space. But his disappointment quickly turned into outright fury at the thought of what exactly that meant.

"Son of a bitch! You betrayed me!" he shouted through the reopened com link and gave his ship the order to lift off. He wasn't going to risk the shockwave caused by the explosion of the Soto-oh to harm his own ship.

"In your own interest I advice you to refrain from attacking my ship." Kagato's inappropriately calm voice drove Yosho crazy. Yet he could almost feel how the mighty shields of the Soto-oh were building up. It would be difficult to penetrate them, even for the powerful Funaho.

"Calm down and don't jump to conclusions," the hated voice continued. "The prayers grounds are supposed to be a secret place, it would be unwise to have them appear on any map."

"Even if you were right, how do I know that the coordinates you gave me are correct"

A slight edge of annoyance entered Kagato's voice as he explained once again. "As I told you before, we have the same enemy. There is no reason for me to lie to you. And besides, you will probably get your proof soon enough."

Yosho's eyes thinned. "What do you mean by that?"

"See," Kagato's tone changed. "I've wasted enough time. Accomplish your goals, so my efforts won't have been in vain."

"Wait!" Yosho shouted but the link had already been deactivated and the Soto-oh was lifting off.

"What an arrogant snob," he hissed and crushed his fist at the wall.

Yosho made Funaho follow tight, fighting an inner battle. His entire body was burning with rage and his mind screamed at him to blast this treacherous liar to hell once and for all, but at the same time he knew that he would risk destruction of his own ship if he followed his instincts this time. Suddenly an incredible pain flashed through his head.

'MAKE HIM STOP. THERE ARE NEW INSTRUCTIONS.'

Yosho cringed at the powerful voice booming through his mind. "Y-Yes," he replied mechanically and wiped the sweat off his forehead.

He tried to hail Kagato immediately, but there was no response. He could only watch in terror as the Soto-oh left the planet's atmosphere. Soon she would accelerate into hyper-space. Now there was only one possibility left to catch Kagato's attention.

Without hesitation Yosho ordered Funaho to prepare for what he estimated to be a powerful, yet not devastating attack. A red glowing ball formed at the front of his ship and was fired. With the little distance between the two ships it was impossible for Kagato to avoid being hit.

But like Yosho had expected the energy ball didn't penetrate his shields. Still, it achieved its objective. He was hailed by the pirate.

"You are persistent, Yosho, but there is an end even to my patience. What do you want?"

"I...," Yosho bit his lip and continued in the most moderate way he managed. "You told me you were interested in the success of my mission."

Kagato remained silent.

"Well, I've... come to realize that there might be a threat."

"And because you don't have time to deal with it yourself, you want me to handle it," Kagato concluded.

"That's not entirely true. In fact the mission is not worth..." Yosho groaned as another wave of pain exploded inside of his head. As he continued his voice had changed. "A young man called Tenchi Masaki is informed about my plans. Stop him."

Kagato obviously didn't miss out on Yosho's strange behavior, for his confidence wavered just a little as he answered.

"Masaki? ... ... That could be interesting. Tell me where to find him and I will do whatever is necessary to prevent his interference."

Yosho's fingers moved over the panel in front of him and coordinates totally alien to him appeared on the screen. After he had finished the transmission, he slumped to his knees, totally exhausted.

"Are you satisfied now?" he asked, his voice mere a whisper. But there was no response and for a long time the low hum of Funaho's bridge systems was accompanied only by Yosho's heavy breathing.

* * *

The peace of the forest wasn't easily disturbed, not even by the unusual sight of an old man and a boy walking next to each other in silence. The song of the birds, the rustling of leaves in the wind, it all went on undeterred, just like it always had.

Tenchi wished he could share the tranquility of the forest. The conversation with his mother had left him with a bad feeling and he had absolutely no idea what to make of the sudden appearance of his grandfather. Of course Tenchi had thought about asking him where they were going, but he knew that getting information out if his grandfather when he wasn't about to share it by himself, was a task yet to be accomplished. Any attempt would ultimately result in a pounding headache.

His grandfather, or Lord Katsuhito as he was referred to by the public, was running the local office. However, people did not only come to him to get their official affairs settled, but many also came seeking his advice on how to solve their problems in life. Tenchi had gotten to know him as a wise man, who was very good at hiding his own feelings as he dealt with the affairs of others. Sometimes it made him seem cold and calculating, but by the time Katsuhito had spent with him as a child, Tenchi knew that he had a kind heart.

Although there was no reason for him to be afraid, Tenchi's confusion was starting to turn into uneasiness. If he didn't ask now, he knew he would regret it for the rest of the way.

"So, where are we going?" After the long silence his voice almost felt alien to him.

Katsuhito answered without taking his eyes from the path ahead.

"To my office. I'm not getting many visitors at this time of the year, so the courtyard will be the perfect place for your training."

It was a surprisingly straight answer, but unfortunately it left Tenchi with another question.

"My training?"

Katsuhito nodded, his gaze still fixed on the path. It was obvious that those were all the hints he was going to give his adoptive grandson.

Tenchi wondered what he could mean by training. What was there to train for and why did it have to be now of all times? Then it suddenly came to him. Lord Katsuhito was not only a wise official of the government but there was also the rumor that he was actually a retired master swordsman. But since the art of the sword wasn't widely spread on Arret, Tenchi had never actually seen him fight, or even hold a blade. Of course, being a boy and naturally interested in such things, he had often asked him if he wasn't going to show him how to fight, but his grandfather had always answered that it wasn't the time yet.

"You are going to teach me the way of the sword?" he asked, amazed.

"I will help you to make use of your own potential, no more and no less," Katsuhito stated cryptically.

Tenchi was taken aback. His grandfather couldn't possibly know about the strange powers he had discovered within himself recently. The first time they had ever surfaced had been during his battle with Ryoko, which had been weeks after he had last seen the old man.

"What kind of potential do you mean? I sure don't feel anything special." He tried to bait his grandfather into telling him more.

"You don't?" Katsuhito gave him a strange look, raising his eyebrows in faked surprise. "That's quite unlikely. I recognized your talent when you were not much more than a boy, by now you should have noticed it by yourself in one way or the other."

"Well... maybe I have," Tenchi admitted reluctantly. Then another, somewhat irritating thought entered his mind. "But why did you never tell me if you knew about it all along?"

They reached the base of a long stairway and Katsuhito didn't say anything until they had climbed the first couple of steps. Tenchi was slightly startled as he finally spoke, for he had already given up on an answer.

"You need to understand that life is full of choices, Tenchi. Those choices eventually lead to change, they are the very power which shapes our destiny. Back then I hoped that you would never need to make use of your talent, because I feared that it might taint your righteous spirit. But you have chosen your own path. Regardless of how you are going to decide from now on, it seems like you will have to fight."

Tenchi didn't like where this was going at all. He still had no idea of his own position in this whole play, but by now he had come to realize that the definition of right and wrong he had made for himself didn't always fully apply to reality. Maybe it wasn't possible to solve the situation by fighting.

"There has to be another way." It was a statement and a question at the same time, accompanied by an unusual mixture of desperation and determination.

Katsuhito's expression didn't change, but as he spoke on, there was a slightly amused undertone to his voice.

"Of course there is. As I said, everyone carves his own future and in the process the most obvious choices are not always the only ones. But to prepare for the worst now is better than to regret not having done so later."

Not quite understanding what his grandfather was getting at, Tenchi simply mumbled his agreement. All this talk about the future was turning out to be a little too much for him. After all he hadn't even come to grips with the most recent happenings yet. So he didn't try to ask another question and they climbed the rest of the steps in silence.

After what seemed like a million more steps to Tenchi's feet, they finally reached the top of the hill. Although he had been here a couple of times as a child, the sight was still as amazing as it had been the first time he had seen it. Basically his grandfather's place was made up by a large paved yard, surrounded by trees. The ground was not only free of any scattered leafs or sticks, it was spotless almost to the point of being reflective. And exactly opposite from their entrance point was Katsuhito's wooden office building, which served as his home at the same time. Tenchi remembered, that he had always found the intricate yet undemanding design of the construction fascinating. Being build a few feet above the ground on a wooden under-structure, with a small staircase leading up to the entrance, it appeared more like a sanctuary than a provincial office. The whole place was clearly not created with the intention to leave an impression on the visitor, but rather to set his mind at ease.

Katsuhito had meanwhile crossed the yard and entered the building, leaving his grandson to wonder what was going to happen next. Somehow Tenchi had a feeling that he wasn't supposed to follow him, so he slowly walked up to the middle of the court and looked around once more, taking in the beautiful scenery in more detail, as he waited for his grandfather to return.

It took less than a minute for Katsuhito to re-emerge in the entranceway, carrying two objects, which Tenchi wasn't able to identify immediately. Only as the old man moved closer, he recognized them as wooden training swords. If any doubt about the reason for his grandfather taking him up here had been left in his mind, it was gone now.

"Tell me, did you ever have a chance to hold a sword during the time of your absence, Tenchi?"

Suddenly Tenchi started to feel very uneasy. All the excitement he might have felt at the thought of learning how spar from his grandfather was gone and left was only a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"No," he answered automatically, but then he thought better of it. "Or maybe, yes... kind of."

"Hmm..." Katsuhito's expression remained unreadable. "In that case, we might as well see what you can do before we start the training." Without warning, he threw one of the swords and Tenchi caught it only by quick reflex. "Prepare yourself!"

He charged with a speed one would not expect from a man of his age and finally leapt into a powerful overhead attack. Tenchi grabbed his sword with both hands and raised it, so that the tip was pointing downwards. The blades met and he took a step to the side, making his grandfather's devastating blow slide harmlessly down his own sword. From his meagre experience he had learned that it was a very bad idea to try and parry such powerful attacks head on.

Katsuhito skillfully converted the momentum of the downward movement to bring his blade up again, striking at his opponent's mid-section. Although it was almost too quick for the eye to follow, Tenchi parried the attack, only to have his grandfather throw another one at him. With a swiftness he didn't even know he was capable of he kept blocking and dodging for a while. He just thought that he was doing a pretty good job, as the blades connected once more and he almost lost his grip on his weapon. Pain exploded in his wrists as the vibrations caused by the impact were sent up his arms, almost reaching his shoulders. If Katsuhito had followed up with another strike right then, Tenchi wouldn't have been able to block it. But he didn't. Instead he retreated a couple of steps and lowered his sword.

"I see you have already mastered the basics and you are able to fight with the agility of youth, but you still need to learn some things about style. When I attacked, you allowed yourself to be forced into the defensive. Now a strong defense can be essential if you want to survive a battle. It might even tire out your opponent, giving you an advantage, but it will also allow him to dictate the style of the battle with his attacks, which is the first step for him to victory. You always need to stay in control. Even when you are meeting an opponent who is much stronger or faster than you and you end up being forced into the defensive you must not let the battle get out of hand. If someone holds such an advantage over you, it often makes him more vulnerable to feints. Using those might allow you to throw your opponent off balance."

Tenchi nodded. He thought he had a vague idea of where his grandfather was going with his explanation. By now the pain in his wrists had subsided and he had a tight grip on his sword again. Determined to put the advice to use right away he charged.

Katsuhito stood calmly, awaiting his grandson. The blades met once again and Tenchi immediately tried to press his attack, not wanting to lose control of the battle again. Somewhat to his own surprise, it actually seemed to work. His moves weren't as elegant, but he made up for it with speed and power. Under the pressure of his grandson's attacks, Katsuhito slowly moved backwards.

Feeling that he was close to victory, Tenchi pressed his attack even more. He executed a low strike and the force of it was enough to almost break through the block of his grandfather. Katsuhito's sword was knocked back slightly, exposing his right upper section. Tenchi immediately recognized his opportunity and went for the opening.

Unfortunately, Katsuhito had seen the attack coming and simply ducked under it. The next moment Tenchi felt his legs being swept away under him and before he knew it, he found himself lying on his back, the tip of his grandfather's training sword pointing at his throat.

"You need to pay more attention to what I tell you, Tenchi. Never make the mistake to think the battle is already won, just because you hold a temporary advantage. You always need to stay focussed on the battle and the battle alone. Thoughts of victory or defeat will only divert your concentration." He lowered his sword and made a gesture for Tenchi to get up. "The sparring is ended for now. I think we will start your training with some exercises to help you concentrate better. Afterwards I will show you some basic patterns."

As he rose Tenchi suddenly had the certainty, that today was going to turn into a very long day.

* * *

Slowly Ryoko walked down the empty corridor. She kept her eyes open and listened very carefully, but there was no sound other than the low hum, which she had taken up on as soon as she had left the Souja. Since the sound had neither changed in tone nor volume since her arrival, it was most likely that it was caused by the little working machinery the former owners of this place had left behind. Still, not wanting to fall for a trap again, Ryoko turned around ever so often to check the corridor behind her. But of course it remained empty. It was obvious that the station had been forsaken quite some time ago.

From what she had seen so far, Ryoko had to admit that the place was quite impressive. Without the coordinates she would never have noticed the small cleft in the asteroid, even if she had passed it right by. It hadn't been easy to maneuver the Souja inside, for the entrance was only a little wider than the ship itself.

Inside, the pirate had been surprised to find a rather large hangar bay. There was enough space to easily fit in three ships the size of the Souja or a dozen smaller ships. But as Ryoko had arrived, there had been only one other ship there. It was Juraian in design and the pirate guessed that it belonged to her client.

After she had left her ship, in order to look for the Juraian, Ryoko had gotten a better understanding of the nature of this place. It wasn't necessary to be an attentive observer in order to realize that a terrible battle had taken place here. Probably the base hadn't been as secret as its owners had wanted it to be. Collapsed corridors, dislocated doors and the dark traces of blaster fire on the walls were omnipresent. Judging from the current state of the station, the battle did not went too well for its former inhabitants.

Nevertheless, there had been times where Ryoko would have sold her soul for such a hideout. If she knew about such a place, the Juraian had to be better in the business of stealth than she appeared. Once again Ryoko wondered about her identity. A community as proud as the royal family of Jurai did not have many outlaws. In fact Kagato was the only one she knew and she hadn't thought that there would be any others, but obviously she had been wrong. Of course there was also the possibility of her being an under cover agent, but considering the circumstances that was very unlikely. After all she had been the one to entrust her with stealing the book in the first place.

Half of her consciousness still fixed on scanning her surroundings and the other half in thought like this, Ryoko rounded a corner and suddenly found herself in front of what must have once been a huge doorway. Now it was just an assembly of deformed metal pieces, some still blocking the way, but bent in impossible angles, allowing intruders to slip through easily, others completely dislocated and scattered on the ground.

Ryoko had a strong feeling that her client was waiting inside, which was partially because up to now she had followed the only accessible route. All the other pathways she had seen had either been locked tight, or blocked by larger pieces of debris.

Carefully, as to not expose herself to a possible attack from the other side, Ryoko slipped through the opening. The room on the other side was rather wide and judging by the round table in the middle, which was surprisingly well preserved, it must have once been a briefing room or something of the likes.

Even more interesting than the piece of furniture, however, was the young woman standing in front of it. This time she wasn't wearing a cloak, so Ryoko was able to take in her appearance in more detail. She had dark purple hair, part of it tied back in two long ponytails. Her clothing style was very similar to that of Kagato in a way, elegant enough but perhaps a little too shabby to be fit for the royal court.

Then Ryoko met her eyes, which were matching her hair with the rather unusual color of amethyst. She wasn't surprised to find the woman staring back at her intently. Holding her gaze, Ryoko summarized her observations and came to the conclusion that the woman probably hadn't been outcast from Jurai because of her unsightliness.

"Welcome, Miss Ryoko," she broke the silence and emphasized her words with a courteous bow. "I have to admit that I didn't expect you so soon."

"A nice place you have here," the pirate stated, ignoring her words.

"Ah yes, it is said that it has once been one of the countless hideouts of the infamous pirates of Dengar. But it was eventually discovered and has fallen in the final offensive of the Galaxy Police. The pirates put up a brave fight, but in the end, they were completely eradicated." The woman's eyes were shining as she told the story, making Ryoko wonder about her state of mind. "Of course the GP had no use for a place like this, so they just abandoned it and before long it was forgotten to history... We were the ones to rediscover it."

"We?" Since the woman had obviously become absorbed in her own story, Ryoko thought it a good opportunity to find out a little more about her.

"Yes, together with..." Her smile vanished completely and her eyes became focused again. "Nevermind, we better get down to business now."

"Okay, so where's my payment?" the pirate asked, hiding the disappointment from her voice.

"Right here. Take a look, if you must." The woman gestured towards a small case lying next to her on the table.

Never taking her eyes completely off the Juraian, Ryoko walked over to her and carefully opened the case. It was filled with Jurai. A bold 10000 was printed on each of the notes without exception. The pirate slammed the case shut in irritation and faced the woman, who quickly retreated a step.

"That's not part of the deal," Ryoko snarled dangerously.

"Well, considering the changed circumstances, I had to slightly adjust it. Or do I need to remind you that it originally said that it would take you no more than three days to get me the book? You should feel lucky that I decided to pay you at all!"

"Is that so?" For a moment, Ryoko felt ready to explode. "I rather think you are the one who should feel lucky that I just decided not to turn your insides out."

"Just you try." But her pale face failed to support the challenging tone.

Maybe, the pirate thought, she should follow her invitation, but she knew from experience that the Juraian was by no means an easy match. It just wasn't worth the effort, especially because she could really use the money right now. Taken, Jurai wasn't her preferred currency, it always raised suspicion on the black market. But she really needed some spare parts and repairs for the Souja after all that had happened lately.

She shot another petrifying glance at the woman, which left no doubt that she could go through with disposing of her if she really wanted to, and then returned her attention to case and the notes inside. After she had checked their authenticity under the watchful eye of her client, she closed the case and placed it in her subspace pocket, taking the Holy Book out at the same time.

"The book! You really brought it!" The woman was utterly unable to hide her anticipation at the sight of the treasure she so desired.

"Of course I did. We have a deal after all." She placed the book on the table. "Take it and be happy with it." The other woman quickly approached the treasure, but was stopped by a gesture from Ryoko. "But answer me one question first."

"What is it now?" her client asked impatiently.

"What's so special about a book with nothing but empty pages?"

At first the woman seemed to be confused about the question, but then her face lit up with realization. "Ah, it's a Juraian secret, which is of use only to Juraians and can be read only by Juraians." She was silent for a moment but as the pirate's eyes narrowed dangerously, she continued. "I need it to restore my status as a member of the royal family of Jurai. Those matters should be of no concern to you."

It was easy to tell that she was lieing, or at least keeping something back, but Ryoko had already made her decision anyway. She wasn't going to act on a hunch and right now the money was much more appealing than an empty book. And where the same wouldn't apply to Shade, the woman in front of her definitely did not seem like she would be able to cause much harm with the book.

'And even if she did, what do I care?" the pirate thought to herself.

Not about give herself enough time to mentally answer the question, Ryoko finally stepped back from the table. The other woman remained where she was, suspicion evident in her eyes.

"Well then, enjoy the read." Ryoko turned around and headed for the exit, raising her hand to casually wave it back over her shoulder. "I'd be lying if I said that it was nice dealing with you, but if you ever find that you need anything again, remember that I'm still out there."

"I doubt that will happen." Those were the last words Ryoko heard from her client before she slipped through the opening, into the corridor leading back to the Souja.

The woman's silent chuckle was completely missed by the pirate.

* * *

For more than an hour already the clanging sound of wood meeting wood with great force disturbed the usual tranquillity of the yard. Not knowing what to make of such unknown aggressive noise, the birds and the wildlife had long since fled the scene. There was no one left to watch the two combatants struggling against each other with all their might.

One final time the sound rang out through the forest, then it was replaced by an almost eerie silence. The two opponents, a young man in his early twenties and a much older one, whose age was hard to guess, were slowly circling each other now, either one waiting for his chance to strike.

What had started out as a practice match had turned into something more serious. Having done countless exercises under the watchful eye of his grandfather over the course of the past two days, Tenchi had really wanted to put to use what he had learned. Much to his surprise the training seemed to have had quite an effect. Two days ago, in their first battle, he had been unable to keep his focus and see through Katsuhito's perfectly executed feints. Now he had done it with ease from the beginning.

However, after over an hour of intense battle, Tenchi noticed that his concentration was slipping. A couple of times already had he avoided what would have been a lethal attack only the last instant by his sheer speed of reaction. His secret source of power from which he had drawn so often already in the recent past had provided him with the strength and speed to keep up so far and his training had helped him to better focus those energies. But now he could feel his body and mind starting to tire, making him painfully aware that there were limits even to his mysterious power.

What was even worse, was the fact that Katsuhito showed absolutely no sign of exhaustion whatsoever. If it didn't end soon, Tenchi knew that he would eventually make a mistake and lose this battle as well. He needed to catch his grandfather off guard, or to throw him off balance, in order to break through his defense, but that seemed to be a deed which was impossible to achieve.

Following this trail of thought, a crazy idea slowly took shape in Tenchi's mind. The problem was the superior combat experience of Katsuhito. For all of his grandson's moves, even those he did not teach him, he seemed to have the perfect block and counter ready. But there was one thing he probably wouldn't expect.

The eyes of the two combatants met and the old man gave a faint nod. They both knew that the battle was going to end now. After their next exchange one of them would eventually emerge victorious.

Tenchi raised the handle of his sword to shoulder height and charged. With only three steps he crossed the distance between him and his opponent, executing a swift downward slash. Katsuhito took a quick step to the side and parried with ease. Suddenly Tenchi felt himself stumbling by the force of his own attack. However, he didn't make the mistake to try and regain his balance, but used his momentum to throw himself to the ground and roll over his shoulder. Instantly he jumped up again and swung his blade around to block Katsuhito's next swipe from behind. The drive of his spin-slash forced his grandfather to retreat a step, presenting Tenchi with the opportunity he had been waiting for. His sword started to move in a horizontal counterattack, aiming for his opponents upper body, but the last instant he converted the swipe into a stab, by slightly changing the grip on his weapon. Of course Katsuhito saw through the deception and avoided the attack by taking a sideward step and twisting his torso. In the same movement he brought up his own weapon to strike for his grandson's exposed neck. But Tenchi didn't move to defend himself, instead he brought his sword around and up at his opponent.

The same instant in which Tenchi felt the wooden blade of his grandfather making contact with the right side of his neck, his own one met Katsuhito in exactly the same place. Time froze together with the two combatants. It was a grotesque sight, both of them standing there, swords pointed at each other, their eyes locked in another silent duel. After a while, Tenchi was the one to break the uncomfortable silence.

"I won," he stated simply.

"You defeated me, in that you are right. But if this had been a real battle, you would be dead as well. Can you really call that victory?" Katsuhito asked, keeping his sword in position.

"But I had no other choice. I didn't stand a chance of winning otherwise."

"You have learned a lot, Tenchi. Maybe too much, but it seems like you missed out on the most important lecture." Now he finally lowered his sword, triggering Tenchi to hurriedly do the same. "Never give up yourself. A battle is not lost until you are defeated or you give up on it, it's one and the same. Just like life, a battle is full of changes, but only if you believe in yourself you will live to see them."

"So you think I would have been able to beat you without a sacrifice?" Tenchi asked sceptically.

"Who knows? We will never find out. But one thing I know for certain. You possess by far greater power than you realize. Our training has helped you to focus better on the aspects of your potential, which you are already familiar with, but you won't be able to discover its full range by training alone."

"What do you mean?" Tenchi was puzzled to say the least. How was it, that his grandfather knew more about his secret powers than he himself?

"Before you find to strength you need to find yourself. You need to believe in yourself and your decisions instead of locking your inner self away in a cage."

Tenchi almost flinched at the words and the harsh way in which Katsuhito spoke them. But the old man's expression softened quickly.

"In order to help you on this difficult path, I have a special present for you." He reached into a bag of his robe and took out what appeared like the handle of a sword with no blade. "I have been carrying this weapon for a long time. At the time I received it I was still searching for myself, much like you are now. I thought if I acquired more power I would eventually come to understand the way of things, but the sword showed me that I was wrong. It granted me the power I so desired, but using it didn't cause any satisfaction, only grief. That was when I understood that I wouldn't find myself in power." He made a long pause, making Tenchi wonder what had happened to him back then. But before he had a chance to voice a question, his grandfather cleared his throat and continued. "But those are nothing more than the memories of an old man now. I don't think that you will misuse the sword like I did. Instead, I hope you will draw from its strength to fuel your own confidence. Think of it as a guide for the difficult path on which you will doubtlessly tread soon."

He held the handle out in front of him and Tenchi accepted the present with a bow, like it was the custom on Arret. A strange wave of power coursed through him as his fingers made contact with the weapon, driving away his fatigue almost instantly. Suddenly he had a better understanding of what might have happened to his grandfather so long ago.

"Thank you, but is it really okay for me to take this. I mean, I have only just begun my training..." He trailed off, seeing Katsuhito's stern expression.

"Tenchi, I can't think of a better owner for the sword than you. You have all the qualities needed for the task and more. As for your training, there wasn't much for me to teach you to begin with. I merely helped you to unlock the knowledge you instinctively already had."

"But how's that possible?" Tenchi asked, still not about to believe what his grandfather was telling him.

"I don't know, you seem to have a natural talent. It's like you were born with a sword in hand."

The gloomy silence that followed, made it obvious that something better left unspoken had been said. Fortunately, Katsuhito quickly ended the awkward moment.

"I think you should go see your mother now. She will probably have dinner ready soon."

"Aren't you coming?" Tenchi was surprised. His grandfather had always every meals with them in the past two days.

"No, I need to catch up on some work and besides I want you to share some time alone with your mother. After all we have been out for training almost the whole time since you arrived," Katsuhito explained.

"You are right. Thanks grandpa."

Katsuhito just nodded and turned around to head back for his office. Tenchi kept watching him until he had vanished through the entrance, then he examined the sword handle in his hands for another couple of seconds. Finally he shrugged and pushed it into a pocket of his jacket. Before he started to rack his brains over all the things his grandfather had just told him, he really needed to do some catching up with his mother.

Slowly he started walking down the stairway. Katsuhito had been right, except for the meals he hadn't spend much time together with her during the last two days. And even then they hadn't talked much. She had been friendly but distant and Tenchi had been lacking the courage to address the delicate subject again.

A pair of birds circled over him and finally sat down in a huge tree next to the stairs. Tenchi stopped and watched them until they flew off again. He wasn't in a hurry, although maybe he had reason to be. Right then, outside of this peaceful paradise terrible things might have been happening, things empress Achika had asked him to prevent.

Shaking his head Tenchi tried to chase away the disturbing thoughts. He had come to Arret in order to think about the latest events and maybe he had hoped to get some advice from his mother. But instead of having a serious conversation with her he had been sparring with his grandfather the whole time. He had learned the way of the sword although he wasn't even sure if it was the path he wanted to take.

His hand moved into his pocket and touched the handle of the light sword. And again he felt a wave of power coursing through him wiping out every doubt about his destiny. Somewhat frightened he let go of the sword and moved on.

Remembering the words of his grandfather Tenchi got a bad feeling. To the old man it seemed to be only a matter of time until his grandson would find himself and go to war. He himself had always believed that he would have a choice, but maybe the wise man was right. Maybe there was only this one option and he had to go with it if he wanted to live on without regret.

Tenchi was just thinking about who he might have to fight in order to restore the book as a rustling sound to his left drew his attention.

He stopped in mid-movement and listened carefully, but there was only the rustling of leaves and the song of the birds. So he shrugged and continued walking down the stairs.

He had made no more than a couple of steps, when he realized an unusual movement out of the corner of his eye. Taken over by mere instincts he jumped aside trying to avoid something that came racing towards him from out of the bushes. It looked like a long red whip but Tenchi had no time for a closer inspection. Because of his thoughtless jump he had lost balance and was now in danger of falling down the last quarter of the stairs.

Not having reached its aim the whip was drawn back into the undergrowth, leaving Tenchi desperately fighting for his balance by thrashing his arms around wildly. Yet before he finally lost it completely, the whip shot out again. He had no chance to even think of dodging this time.

The red glowing weapon made contact with his chest and before Tenchi was able to cry out in pain the sheer force of the whip's movement hurled him off the stairs and into the wood.

A mighty tree stopped his flight and with a moan Tenchi sank to ground. His chest hurt like hell and as he looked down he saw that part of his training clothes had been burned.

"What was that?" he murmured, standing up carefully.

Arret was usually not a place where potential killers were walking the woods. But unless the attacker didn't have a particularly cruel kind of humor, it really seemed like he had been seriously trying to hurt him. Tenchi thought about what his grandfather had told him and decided to move deeper into the forest.

But after the first couple of steps already, he had to admit that maybe that hadn't been such a good idea. Of course he wasn't visible that way, but the sound he produced was certainly enough to betray his location to any attentive observer.

He stopped and just like it had waited for this moment, a voice addressed him from behind.

"You can't escape me."

Tenchi whirled around and his eyes grew wide.

In the shadow of a tree only a few feet in front of him was standing a woman. A long dark cloak veiled her figure but the hood was lowered exposing two dangerously glowing orbs in a sharply cut face framed by blue hair.

Nagi.

At first Tenchi simply couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was impossible that the famous ex-bounty hunter would appear on a small backwater planet like Arret and even more so that she had come for him. But her resolute voice made him aware that he wasn't dreaming.

"You are Tenchi Masaki." Nagi stated with a voice cold as ice. "Actually, I only came here to get some clues on your whereabouts but...," a dark smile flitted over her lips, "... by visiting your mother just now you saved me a lot of work."

"What do you want?" Tenchi would have liked his voice to sound more determined but he was unable to hide the apprehension caused by the ex-bounty hunter's words.

Starring at him her dark eyes sparkled with hatred. "Revenge," she growled and made a step towards him.

"Revenge?" Tenchi was quick to readjust their distance, unable to understand what Nagi was talking about.

Much to his relieve the ex-bounty hunter didn't make another attempt at closing in on him. Instead he felt her eyes gazing at him, slightly amused.

"It would be a waste to explain to you in detail, since you are going to die anyway." Seeing the shock in the young man's eyes, Nagi smiled maliciously. "But before we get down to business, tell me one thing. What's so special about you?"

The boy remained silent and Nagi got the impression that he was thinking about how to deal with the situation. Obviously he came to a conclusion. When he finally spoke up his voice was faint.

"There's nothing special. I'm..." he made a gesture of despair, "... nothing special. So what's the question about?"

Nagi sighed. "Well then," she got rid of her cloak by carelessly throwing it to the ground. "Let me test your abilities."

Tenchi realized that she had drawn some kind of short staff with her right. Carefully he backed away some more.

"I won't fight you," he murmured.

"You have no choice, Masaki." Nagi moved towards him. "What will Ryoko think when I tell her that you've been too scared to fight?"

"What?!" Tenchi gasped and stumbled over a root while trying to maintain the distance between him and the dangerous woman. His back made contact with the soft ground but before he was able to stand up again, Nagi was already over him.

Fixed on something in the grass next to him, her face showed an expression of surprise.

"You're using a light sword? Maybe this is going to get more interesting than I expected"  
Tenchi followed her gaze and saw his newly acquired weapon lying among the leaves beside him. Under Nagi's wary eyes he sat up hesitantly and extended his hand for his weapon.

"Take it. I won't stop you." Nagi said and stepped back a little to emphasize her words.

Never taking his eyes off her, Tenchi's fingers closed around the hilt.

"Well, then, Masaki..." Nagi swung her staff, "... show me a good fight before I kill you."

Not waiting for a reply she launched an attack at the boy's chest. Tenchi rolled to the side as fast as possible and the staff missed its target only by inches. Swiftly Tenchi jumped to his feet and retreated a few steps, still not activating his weapon. He knew that he had to make use of all options in order to hold himself against the ex-bounty hunter, yet he felt a strange aversion to fight.

"You're a coward, Masaki." Nagi had straightened up again and watched him with contempt. "Ryoko must have gone totally nuts, if she chose you as her partner. By now I'm not even sure if your death will affect her at all."

A low hiss cut through the silence as a bright blue blade sprang forth from the hilt. The ex-bounty hunter gave a contended smile.

"That's the spirit," she whispered.

Her staff whirled through the air and she jumped forward. Tenchi saw her weapon racing towards his head with incredible speed but this time he didn't retreat. Both hands clenched on his sword he moved the glowing blade upwards. The two weapons met only for half a second but it was enough for Tenchi to get an idea of exactly how strong his opponent was.

He had he fought with a light sword before, but deep inside he had hoped that its power would somehow exceed that of Nagi's staff. But when he was shoved back by the mere force of her attack he painfully realized that his hope had been for naught.

The pirate launched another assault. She aimed her staff at his upper body but Tenchi was able to block the attack. Almost to fast for the eye to follow Nagi whirled around and suddenly her weapon tore for Tenchi's hip. Just in time he smashed his sword down at the metal, but the force of his strike wasn't enough to completely ward off Nagi's attack. The staff made contact with his leg but Tenchi clenched his teeth and ignored the pain.

Then, just as the pirate was about to throw another attack at him, realization suddenly struck him. This was the ultimate test of his skill. If he was able to hold himself against or even defeat Nagi, it would mean that his pursuit of justice wasn't such a foolish endeavor after all. If not, he would die right here and now and all his efforts, all the sacrifices he had made would have been in vain. A strange kind of determination grew from the depths of his mind. He was playing a role in a big story and he wanted to know how it was going to end.

Nagi's staff met his blade once again, but this time he was able to block her forceful strike. For endless seconds their faces were so close that Tenchi could see the bright blue reflection of his sword in Nagi's eyes.

Realizing that her opponent had lost part of his concentration, Nagi quickly withdrew her weapon and attacked again. Much to her surprise, however, the boy's sword moved around fast enough to meet her staff as she aimed it for his side.

"You're better than I expected," she said, throwing another attack.

Tenchi's blade struck her weapon in mid air forcing her to call off her move. But this time, instead of instantly swinging at him again, she jumped back.

"Enough of those petty games. You have potential, you might even have turned into a good fighter one time, but life can be cruel sometimes." Her lips contorted into a bitter smile. "I have experienced it first hand and now I'm going to show it to you as well, Masaki!"

"Wait a second!" Tenchi shouted frantically and much to his surprise Nagi listened to him.

She lowered her weapon just a little and looked at him expectantly.

"I... well...," Tenchi started, cleared his throat and continued with more resolution. "Maybe you didn't realize but I was the one who allowed you to escape from the GSP."

"Only a handful of things miss my attention and your actions certainly are not among them. Don't get me wrong, I don't have any kind of personal grudge against you." For a second, Nagi smiled at him in a strange way but turned dead serious immediately. As she went on, her voice was filled with hatred. "For two long years I have kept swearing that I would make Ryoko suffer. The mere imagination of defeating and killing her with my very own hands helped me to retain my spirit for all these months. I couldn't think of another possibility to satisfy my thirst for revenge."

Tenchi swallowed hard at Nagi's words. He had gotten to know a lot of people who disliked Ryoko to say the least. In fact, most of them even wished her death but somehow the feeling of hatred Nagi was radiating was stronger than everything he had felt before. She really seemed to be obsessed with her desire for revenge and although Tenchi understood that she might have felt betrayed by Ryoko, he didn't think it enough to explain the scale of her hatred. Maybe two years in a high security prison cell led a person's mind in a certain direction.

"But after my escape I soon realized that there was more I could do." Suddenly the ex-bounty hunter raised her weapon and took a few steps forward, making Tenchi retreat hastily.

"I doubt that killing me would serve your purpose," he commented, restoring the distance between them.

"Hah!" Nagi half laughed, half barked. "So you really don't have any idea of your own importance? See, Ryoko does not carelessly choose her partners. Your fighting skill might be impressive, yet it is nothing special compared to me or her. I can imagine only one reason she kept dealing with you."

Tenchi gave her a curious look wondering what kind of answer to this difficult question she had to offer. But Nagi remained silent. She fixed him with an odd stare. Then, for the blink of an eye, her eyebrows seemed to move up suggestively. Tenchi felt himself blushing. He opened his mouth in order to tell her that she was mistaken, but he was cut off by Nagi.

"By killing you I will destroy more than a partnership," she shouted and sliced at the air in front of her with her rapier. "I want to see Ryoko's face when I present your head to her. Die now, Masaki!"

"Wait!"

But Tenchi's voice was drowned out in Nagi's battle scream.

With the elegance of a tigress she leapt towards him. Tenchi didn't manage to retreat fast enough to escape the range of her rapier. The last instant he brought up his blade of light to block the blow and the two weapons met with thunderous force. Unfortunately, the pain in Tenchi's wrists, caused by the sheer power of the impact, made it impossible for him to push off Nagi's weapon, who used the opportunity to apply even more pressure. Much to his terror Tenchi saw his own sword moving closer and closer towards his chest.

While he gritted his teeth and kept trying to keep his opponent's weapon away from his body, he carefully shifted his weight onto his left foot.

"You're too weak," Nagi hissed as the boy's power finally seemed to abandon him.

She could feel his resistance getting weaker and doubled her effort to deal the final blow. But instead of being burned by his own sword he suddenly moved his upper body backwards and leapt back almost at the same time, freeing himself from Nagi's attack and sending her stumbling.

"That's enough!" the ex-bounty hunter shouted, even angrier now.

Seeing the sparkle of fury in her eyes, for a second Tenchi actually considered to just turn around and run as fast as his legs would carry him. But he dismissed the thought quickly. There was no doubt that she would eventually catch up with him and then she would have reason to call him a coward.  
Tenchi's contemplation was ended as Nagi's staff came down at him and he had to jump aside in order to avoid it. But before he had a chance to take advantage of her exposed side she reversed the direction of her attack into an upwards slash. Tenchi ducked frantically, feeling the draft of the weapon as it passed him by with incredible speed. As he came up again, Nagi already threw another attack at him. She had moved in closer on him, so he was left no choice but to use his sword to block her strike. He parried, only to find his opponent's weapon coming at him from yet another direction. The ex-bounty hunter was attacking much more swiftly now and while each of her swipes seemed to be stronger than the last, Tenchi's defense was getting weaker and weaker. He always managed to move his sword into the right position to block Nagi's next attack, but with each clash of their weapons the pain shooting up through his wrists was getting worse.

Nagi led her rapier into a downward slash, forcing him back a step as he parried. She followed up instantly and again her staff raced through the air. This time Tenchi managed to block the swipe only barely. He had to retreat another step.

As he desperately threw his sword against her weapon again and again, the thought of a berserker untied crossed his mind. He knew that at this rate, he was going to lose, yet there seemed to be nothing he could do about it. Suddenly his back made contact with the hard wood of a tree, marking the end of his retreat.

Not about to have him sneak away to the side Nagi brought her weapon down once more with all her strength.

Tenchi had no choice but to take the strike at full force. He groaned as the pain of the impact spread through his arms and before he was able to think clearly again Nagi already followed through with another attack. The golden metal met the blue blade of light and the sword was hurled out of Tenchi's hands.

He watched in terror as his weapon deactivated in mid-air and finally went out of sight even before it hit the ground. However, a low thump indicated that it must have landed somewhere on the stairs.

"Any last words?" Nagi asked, her rapier pointed at his chest.

Tenchi's thoughts were racing. If he didn't come up with a good idea now it would be the end.

"Nothing you want me to tell her?" Her red eyes fixed him expectantly.  
Tenchi remained silent, but as Nagi's expression hardened he was quick to speak. "Er... maybe... you can tell Ryoko... ...," his gaze darted around as if searching for words.

"What?" Nagi inquired impatiently.

"Well...," Tenchi cleared his throat and slowly moved his hands behind his head, much like he felt embarrassed by what he was going to say. "Tell her that... ... I ... ... I won't give up!" He had shouted the last words and just as Nagi realized his true intention, Tenchi stretched his arms and jumped.

The rapier cut through the air but only pierced the wood Tenchi's back had been leaning on a second ago. Now he was hanging on a low branch, his legs drawn close to his body. Nagi hissed angrily and tried to remove her weapon from the trunk. Unfortunately, she failed at her first attempt and Tenchi didn't give her the chance to make another.

With all the strength he had left he slammed his feet down into her face. The pirate screamed and staggered back. Quickly Tenchi let go off the branch, landed on his feet and rushed for the stairway without turning around.

He jumped out of the dense undergrowth around the stairs and onto the solid stone. Panic threatened to overwhelm him when he was unable to spot the hilt of his sword immediately. His makeshift plan had worked out fine so far but now it assumed that he would get a hold of his weapon within the next seconds. Searching the steps frantically he could already hear furious curses from out of the forest behind him. Nagi was getting closer by the second.

Just as he was about to try his luck and hide in the woods on the other side of the stairway he noticed the reflection of the sun's rays, given off by something lying in the grass right next to the path of stone.

"There you are," he whispered in relief.

He bent down to reclaim his weapon and everything around him fell silent. The bird's song died away, the rustling of leaves in the gentle breeze ceased completely, even Nagi's screams of rage were silenced. Tenchi extended his hand for the hilt but hesitated, disturbed by the sudden absence of sound. This moment of carelessness almost cost him his life.

A shadow suddenly appeared behind him and with a dangerous hum Nagi's whip came tearing through the sky. Without another thought Tenchi's hand closed around the hilt and he let himself fall to the side. Nagi's weapon only cut thin air.

After rolling down the last couple of steps Tenchi jumped to his feet, trying his best to cast away the pain caused by the rather hard fall. Nagi was standing a couple of steps above, expectantly looking at him and the hilt in his hand.

"Do we start off from the beginning now?" she inquired, her voice emotionless. Blood run out of her nose. She wiped it off.

"Not exactly," Tenchi heard himself reply with confidence. "I'm not going to loose to you a second time."

Nagi laughed curtly. "Don't overestimate your skill just because you managed to score a hit on me, Masaki!"

Tenchi tensed. "We'll see who's overestimating himself."

His weapon sprang to life with a hiss and when he raised the blue blade Tenchi knew that he had a chance now. He could not tell how it was possible but once again he felt a wave of power coursing through him. Yet, unlike before the sword did not only restore his own strength but even seemed to make it grow in a fascinating way. All of the weapon's energy passed on to him and he got a feeling of being in control which was as strong as it was alien to him.

Nagi's assault was slow and less coordinated than before. Swinging her rapier above her head she simply jumped down towards him, trying to split him in two. Tenchi warded off the attack with ease and tore for her in return. The weapons clashed against each other again and again but now he was the one leading most of the attacks.

For quite some time it seemed like the two opponents were about equal in strength. To the rhythmical sound of their blades they moved, jumped and dodged in front of the stairway. Neither Nagi nor Tenchi were able to force their opponent back in the long run, not to speak of landing a direct hit.

Nagi was getting frustrated by the situation. More and more aggressively she tried to force Masaki into the defensive again. But whenever she withdrew her weapon he already shot a counter at her. It was hard to believe that this exceptional fighter was the same Masaki who had barely been able to defend himself a few minutes ago.

Tenchi, meanwhile, didn't quite understand what was going on. He moved his blade without thinking, just by instinct. The mere thought of being equal or even superior to the powerful pirate was ridiculous, but far from unpleasant. Nagi was a wanted criminal and, as far as he knew, a person of bad character. Maybe he would be able to use his newly acquired power in order to show her her limits.

She saw a blow coming from the right and raised her rapier to parry, but the weapons never met. The boy whirled around, a blue circle surrounding him and suddenly his light blade attacked Nagi's left side. A sound of shocked surprise escaped her, as she realized that she wouldn't be able to move her weapon to block his attack in time. She threw herself to the right but Masaki was faster. His blade scored a deep cut to her shoulder.

Screaming in pain and anger Nagi landed on the ground. She rolled aside immediately coming up into a half sitting position, about to jump to her feet again when she noticed a blue glow behind her in the corner of her eye.

"You cannot defeat me!" she growled, testing her hold on her weapon.

"I already have." Tenchi said calmly and moved his sword even closer to her head, until some of her hair started to seethe.

"How dare you!" Even before she had finished the words Nagi spun around, brought up her rapier and froze.

Masaki's weapon was now pointed directly at her throat.

A smile of amusement tugged at her lips. "You won't kill me," she stated and moved her neck even closer towards the glowing blade. The weapon didn't waver in the slightest, just stayed where it was.

"You sure about it?" Tenchi felt strange at the chill in his own voice but he couldn't let her get away now.

Slowly the blade moved in closer. A sparkle of doubt mixed into the confidence in Nagi's dark eyes. She was forced to lie on her back in order to avoid being burned.

"Very well then. Victory is yours, Masaki." Her voice wasn't as firm as she had wanted it to be. The unemotional expression on the boy's somehow gave her the creeps.

Tenchi heard the words but did not understand their meaning. He was too obsessed by the thought of finally being able to punish Nagi for her crimes to realize that the challenge in her eyes had turned into something entirely different.

"MASAKI!" she shouted frantically.

Only then Tenchi realized that her head was already lying on the steps unable to back away from his blade any further. He forced himself to stop the movement of his arm.

"Don't disgrace me by killing me that way," she told him. "We're both honorable fighters. We should be able to work something out."

Tenchi shook his head slightly. "When I let you go, how do I know that you are not going to try and kill me again?"

"On my honor I swear that I will not try to take your life again." Nagi smiled. "Out of training as I am right now, I wouldn't be able to stand up to you anyway."

For another couple of seconds the blue blade hovered in front of Nagi's throat before it finally vanished. The handle fell out of Tenchi's hand and he sank to his knees. He heard a female voice from far away, but didn't quite understand the words.

"... we'll meet again, Tenchi," was all that registered to his mind, followed by the sound of fast steps moving away from him.

After a while Tenchi opened his eyes slowly and took a deep breath. He felt so totally worn out.

He pushed the handle of the sword back into his pocket and tried to stand, which he managed only barely. Then, when his gaze wandered all the way to the top of the steps in front of him he thought he saw the shape of his grandfather outlined in front of the blue sky. Tenchi blinked in confusion and as he opened his eyes again the image of Katsuhito was gone.

He sighed and turned into the opposite direction. Suddenly he remembered what Nagi had told him right after she appeared. She had mentioned his mother. A feeling of dread washed over him. His heart started racing and although there was no more strength left in his body he started to run.

* * *

Chapter notes:

Now the circumstances under which I wrote my parts of this chapter weren't too good, so if it's not up to your standards, that's the reason.

The Tenchi storyline up to the meeting with Katsuhito was written by my sister. She also wrote the scene with Yosho and Kagato and the later part of the last scene. I wrote the Ryoko storyline and the two battles between Katsuhito and Tenchi.

Now for something more interesting. We have decided to write two side stories, which will address some issues mentioned in the main story. My sister has already started to work on one of them some time ago. It will deal in depth with the background of one of the characters and she will write it all by herself. My only part in it will be to check for lingual mistakes. The first chapter will appear in a week or two and from what I have seen so far, it seems to be very interesting, so make sure to check it out.

Well, I'm done with my advertising and all that's left to do is to plead for reviews as usual. Please review, my confidence might falter without your support.

Again special thanks to Geor-sama, for going through great lengths to smooth things out and help me to stay in schedule.

See you in the next chapter.


	15. Unexpected Revelations

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of their original creators and all those affiliated with them. I have neither created them, nor do I own them. Any new characters as well as the events within this story are created by me and my sister, so they are our property. This story is written for fun and as an homage to the world of Tenchi.

* * *

Chapter 14 - Unexpected Revelations

"It's impossible. It can't be." Never before had the little scientist felt the necessity to use such a phrase and yet she caught herself repeating the words over and over in face of the data displayed on the screen hovering in front of her. Washu's hands were frozen in mid-air, the virtual keyboard beneath them having long since disappeared.

She had checked the results three times until the realization that there was nothing wrong with them sunk in. However, the full implications of that realization were too much even for her mind to take in all at once and so she just sat there, staring at the screen in disbelief. He was the one. The irony was too much to bear but there was no laughter, no tears, only a cold emptiness that crept up on her.

She had lost count of the millennia that had passed since she had first noticed that the seal was weakening, but from that day on she had searched, searched for a way to reinforce it, for a way to restrain the malice that was clawing at its binds from within. From the fractured pieces of her memory she knew that a special person was the key, but the search for that person had turned out much more difficult than she had anticipated.

It wasn't until much later that she had finally found a promising youth and made him her personal student. Though she had by now managed to purge his name from her memory, the terrible pain at his betrayal was still alive in a distant corner of her mind. She had been devastated back then and in her desperation had come up with a foolish plan of creating the key by herself. This had failed as well, adding to her mental instability.

On that day 500 years ago she had finally realized that it was hopeless. The odds for finding the person she was searching for in time to stop the decay of the seal were virtually zero. She had given up back then, trying to push the memory of the seal into one of those portions of her memory that would eventually break away with the passing of time.

And now she had found him. After millennia of active searching without success a study motivated by mild scientific interest revealed to her the holder of the power to manipulate the seal.

Something had struck her odd about Tenchi right from the beginning. That was why she had decided to put his powers to test. Had she known the result she wouldn't have sent him away. By sending him to Jurai on a quest for his true origin, Washu had ultimately wasted all that was left of his trust for her.

Another minute of silent contemplation passed until she finally shrugged off the useless thoughts. A casual flick of her wrist brought the keyboard back into existence and she quickly started to type away.

Now that she had found the key, it was time to check up on the state of the lock. She had stopped monitoring the decay 500 years ago, but luckily she had never bothered to destroy the equipment. It took several minutes of going through security routines which would have easily put an end even to the most powerful of hackers, but finally a stream of data and statistics appeared on the screen. As the scientist scanned through the information, she failed at hiding her shock.

"Damn," she mumbled absently.

The seal was about to break. Obviously the decay since she last checked it had been much worse than it was supposed to be. In its current state even a small energy reaction close to the center might be enough to breach it.

An even more terrifying thought flashed in Washu's mind. The book. Right now it was most likely in the possession of Yosho, the mindless pawn of her old nemesis. And now that he knew where to find them, there was no doubt that his master would send him to the Prayer Grounds in order to fulfil his twisted dreams.

"Those fools! They have no idea what they are dealing with."

She needed to act immediately. Someone had to stop the lunatic, or everything would be lost. Having been exposed to the book, Tenchi would soon find his way to the Prayers Grounds since he was the chosen one. But in his current condition he might not yet be powerful enough to stand up to the renegade prince of Jurai and his wife. Or worse, they might accidentally breach the seal in their combat.

With another combination of smoothly executed keystrokes, Washu made the data on screen disappear, calling up the current coordinates of the Souja. At the sight of them a smile crept on her face despite the circumstances.

"That's my Ryoko. Always close by when you need her."

Now all she needed to do was win the pirate over to her cause. At least Ryoko would listen to her, since Tenchi was involved. If Washu could only get her to understand the gravity of the situation, there might still be a chance to prevent the worst.

Swiftly she hit one last key and the holotop disappeared. Maybe the time of truth was getting closer.

* * *

The last of his reserves were spent as he finally reached the house. So far Tenchi's worry had driven him forward, but as he finally approached the entrance a wave of almost mortal weariness swept over him, forcing him to slow down. Though he was panting heavily, his lungs felt like they were on fire. He felt that his legs were about to give out and quickly reached out to support himself against the frame of the door. Less than ten seconds he allowed himself to remain in that position until he felt that his legs would support him again.

Fighting back the weariness and the pain from the countless shallow wounds, he pushed the door open and stumbled inside. He scanned the living room, but his mother wasn't there. A cold dread entered his thoughts. He was about to call out for her as he heard someone descending the stairs. His heart skipped a beat as the figure of a woman appeared and for a second his mind played a trick on him and he saw himself face to face with Nagi again. Then her features softened and the illusion disappeared.

Their eyes met and while relief coursed through Tenchi's body, making him feel nauseous, the face of his mother distorted in shock. Confusion mixed into his swirling thoughts. Why did she look at him like that? All was well. She was safe after all. Then it struck him, both mentally and physically. His clothes were torn and dirty, his body covered by bruises and shallow cuts.

"Tenchi!" she called out and the room began to spin all around him.

Through his sudden haze he realized that he was about to fall, but he didn't have enough strength left to prevent it. He stumbled, but just as the ground was about to jump up into his face, he met a resistance. The spinning of the room slowed considerably and he noticed that he was now supported by his mother. She helped him over towards the couch and he slumped down, giving in to the fatigue flooding his limbs, but at the same time fighting to stay conscious.

"My god, what happened? Are you alright?"

The question registered to his mind, but he was still lacking the breath to answer straight away. However, as he saw the worry etched on her face, he tried to give her a reassuring smile. It didn't seem to ease her concern.

"I was attacked on my way back here," he finally managed. "By a space pirate named Nagi. But I somehow managed to defeat her and she fled."

The answer only served to agitate his mother even more. "Why would such a person attack you? And here of all places?" she asked, her eyes wide in disbelief.

"She followed me here," Tenchi lied quickly. Now that the pirate was obviously gone it would do no good to tell her about the danger she had been in. It would just make her feel uneasy for no reason. "As for why she attacked me, I think it was just a misunderstanding." He made a short pause, in order to gather his breath. 'A misunderstanding indeed. Maybe you are the one who misunderstood everything?' he was mocked by his own mental voice. Aloud he said, "She wanted to get back at Ryoko for something that happened to her in the past. The two of them were partners once. She thought that..." He hesitated, suddenly glad that his face was already beat red from exhaustion. "... something happened between Ryoko and me."

His mother was visibly taken aback by his revelations. A very uncomfortable silence spread and lasted for several seconds.

"But she was mistaken," she finally said, making it sound more like a question than a statement.

"Of course. I already told you that I wasn't even working together with Ryoko. During those two years all I wanted to do was arrest her for her crimes. But everything went wrong all of a sudden. It was all just a big coincidence." There was only resignation in his words, they didn't even suffice to fool himself.

"From what I gathered it didn't seem so much like a coincidence," she stated softly.

He remained silent.

"I might not have been the one who gave birth to you, but I'm still your mother, Tenchi. I know you and I can see when you are lying to yourself." She looked at him expectantly, but he avoided her gaze.

"I don't know what I feel anymore," he whispered.

There was silence once again. Still not looking at her directly, Tenchi saw his mother's expression change out of the corner of his eye. It seemed pained now, much like she was fighting an inner battle. Finally she sighed, drawing his undivided attention.

"Maybe I have really kept it from you for too long," she murmured more to herself.

Tenchi had no idea what she was talking about, but he had a feeling that it was important and so he didn't ask and just waited for her to continue instead.

"But I was afraid. Afraid that you might chose a different path, that you might throw away everything you have worked for so hard. Please, you must understand," she pleaded.

"I do," Tenchi told her and he really meant it. Whatever it was that she was about to tell him, it had tormented her for a long time, it was easy to see now.

"I told you that I found a basket in front of the house one day, soon after my husband had passed away..." The memory was a painful one, and she was having trouble keeping her voice even as she spoke. "... but though it was the truth, there was more to it than I told you."

Tenchi's eyes widened. Was it possible that she had known something about his true origin all along? Did she have the answer he had been searching for all those years? Forgetting about the pain and exhaustion altogether, he listened intently.

"On the day I found you I was about to do a traditional prayer at the church, but on my way there I realized that I couldn't. The pain was still too vivid. I wouldn't have been able to speak the words. So I returned home and that was when I saw her."

Tenchi held his breath.

"A tall woman with the oddest hair, wearing strange clothes. I blinked in surprise and she was gone. When I moved closer I found you, lying in a basket in front of the door. Your body wrapped in towels you were sleeping peacefully." Her face brightened as she remembered the scene. "At that moment I thought the woman was an angel, sent from heaven to bring me the child I had so wished for." She gave him a sad smile. "But you know that I have never been much of a believer and so I did a little research on the apparition. Finding out her identity was much easier than I had expected actually, but I was deeply shocked at my discovery and I thought it better not to tell anyone about it, not even you."

Tenchi felt ready to explode. "Who? Who was she? I need to know!"

"It was the space pirate Ryoko."

From one moment to the next Tenchi's entire world was smashed into pieces. His body and mind froze, unable to grasp what he had just heard.

"What?!"

"The woman who brought you here as a baby was the space pirate Ryoko," his mother confirmed again, much to his terror.

"But that's impossible. It can't..." Suddenly moving by itself his mind had already started to draw the conclusions. Everything fell into place all at once. The nightmares, the uncontrollable powers, his strange feelings. A new and much more terrifying realization struck him.

"If... if it's true, that means..." He swallowed hard. "That... that there is a chance..."

His mother just nodded solemnly.

Without another word Tenchi stood, fighting back the nausea and stormed up to his room. Once there, he fell onto his bed. A storm of emotions was raging in his mind. He didn't know what to feel. He didn't know who he was. All was lost to him.

The irony of the thought was just too much. After all that had happened... after all he had gone through, he learned that his true mother, the one in his dreams, who he had longed for since his childhood, might be the one who had been his worst enemy not too long ago.

Ryoko the space pirate. Tenchi shuddered. It was rumored that she was over 500 years old and in all the time her looks had never changed, meaning that though one wouldn't expect it, it might have been physically possible. Then there were his strange powers. He might have inherited them from her.

With a motion as swift as his tired limbs would allow he sat up, clenching his fists. Actually he didn't want to even consider the possibility. But then again, the evidence was there. It would explain his strange feelings when it came to the pirate as well. And yet... something was not quite right with that part. Whatever those feelings were and wherever they had come from, they were not maternal, so much he knew for certain.

He heard the sound of soft steps approaching and suddenly he was glad that his back was turned towards the open door. He didn't want to face his mother right now. He heard her stop in the doorway and he could almost feel her eyes upon him. She made another step and hesitated again. It was easy to tell that she was very uncomfortable, but he couldn't think of anything to say to her.

"Are you leaving now?" she asked after what seemed like an eternity.

"Yes. I have to find her. I need to know," he answered simply.

"I see. That's why I didn't tell you." Her voice was trembling and as he rose and turned around to face her, he saw that there were tears in her eyes. "I was afraid that this would happen. I... I'm sorry."

Without another word Tenchi walked over to her and embraced her, allowing her head to rest on his shoulder as she wept.

"Whatever happens, you will always be my mother and there is nothing in the world which can change this. But I need to know," he spoke softly.

Her head moved in what he assumed was a silent nod and after a while the crying ceased. Carefully she pushed out of his embrace and looked at him, wiping away the tears.

"Thank you, Tenchi. I lost you once already, I didn't want to lose you a second time." Suddenly her expression changed to one of concern. "Now let me take a look at those wounds. You don't want to go search for your pirate in a state like this now, will you?"

Tenchi blushed despite the circumstances, but followed her nevertheless. After all she was right. He would leave the planet as soon as he had recovered a little.

* * *

The huge door was slammed open and Azusa left the audience chamber at a rather swift pace. The two knights guarding the door bowed hastily but he took no notice. Not even trying to hide his anger, Azusa rushed down the corridor.

There had been only three audiences, yet he already felt tired of listening to all those trivial matters. It was quite hard to concentrate on a trade treaty, knowing that the whole empire was at the verge of chaos. Nevertheless, during the last three days he had managed to push the knowledge into the back of his mind, so he would at least be able to deal with state affairs. But then the council chairman had approached him about half an hour ago. Not only had he unnerved Azusa by giving him a speech about the economical influence of agricultural communities on planet Centar IV, he had also reproached him for a lack of attention to important matters.

"Important matters," Azusa grumbled. He would have loved to shout some sense into the man and explain to him exactly how important his affairs were compared with the danger they were facing. His anger threatened to overwhelm him and he took a deep breath. What he needed now was fresh air.

"Your majesty!" someone shouted behind him.

Azusa stopped and turned around. "What?"

His harsh tone startled the young knight who had obviously covered quite a distance running in order to reach him. As he approached, he bowed deeply before he spoke.

"We got a message from the fleet. Preceptor Kunrin expressed his wish to talk to you personally, your majesty."

Azusa's expression brightened slightly. "Any good news?"

The knight didn't meet his eyes. "I'm afraid no, sire," he answered.

Azusa made an angry sound and left the knight without another word.

When he entered the next control center a couple of minutes later, his mood had gotten even worse.

The officers present hurried to stand and bow, as Azusa crossed the large room approaching the main communication panel. A dark bearded man entered a few commands and stepped back from the panel just in time for Azusa to take his place in the wooden chair right in front of the screen. Immediately the darkness was replaced by the serious face of Preceptor Kunrin.

"What bad news do you have?" Azusa said, skipping the formal greeting.

"Your majesty," Kunrin lowered his head briefly, "We have thoroughly searched the entire sector around the site of the scout that was destroyed but we were unable to discover a hint at the wherabouts of the Souja or the Soto-oh yet." Azusa's face darkened as Kunrin continued. "We arrived at the scene just a little too late to take up pursuit and up to now they have been lucky to avoid us. With your allowance, I would like to extend the range of the search. We will eventually hunt them down, your majesty. It's only a matter of time."

"Indeed it is," Azusa confirmed grimly. For a moment there was silence, then the emperor took a deep breath and continued. "Abort the search and immediately move the fleet into the Gemina system. Stand by there and report if there is any activity."

Kunrin looked somewhat puzzled. "Excuse my curiosity, your majesty, but why..."

"You have your order," Azusa interrupted him rudely.

His fist crashed down on the panel and the transmission was ended. Wearing a mask of indifference, Azusa rose and walked out of the room.

On his way towards the gardens he met nobody, which served to brighten his mood at least a little. When he finally stepped out into the sunlight he had calmed himself to a point where he didn't feel the wish to destroy something aynmore.

For a moment Azusa just stood there, his eyes wandering from the path to his right over the mighty trees, to his left, where in the distance there was a sparkle, generated by water reflecting the sun. He turned left and slowly strolled over the fountain.

Finally he had made a decision. He had waited a long time, maybe too long, maybe not long enough. But by now, four days after he had learned that Kagato was in possession of the book, it was most unlikely that everything would return to normal without the need for drastic measures. It was now justified and necessary to station the fleet near the Prayer's Grounds. Still, if his expectations were right, the power of those ships would not be enough. If the worst scenario came to be, all forces would need to be mobilzed.

"What a nice day."

Azusa jerked at the sound of the familiar voice and looked up. He had already reached the little fountain and on a wooden bench nearby sat the only person he could confide with over the things on his mind. But as for the moment Azusa would have liked to avoid any such conversation.

"Take a seat, darling."

Unwilling Azusa followed the request and sat down beside his wife.

"Are you still mad with me?" she asked after a while.

"I've already told you, that I was never mad with you," he answered a little too sharp to sound honest. "It's just that I think you made a mistake, "he added in a more conciliatory voice. "How could you set free a wanted criminal just because of a premonition? You have no idea of the trouble I went through to conceal your intervention." Azusa shook his head. "We might soon see civil war because of his actions and believe me, if I ever get my hands on him again, I will punish him personally."

Achika sighed. "My heart told me, that he is not a bad person."

Azusa watched his wife suspiciously, but she just met his eyes with a warm smile. He turned away.

"And what does your heart tell you about the dissolution of the council?" He asked in a low voice, full of derision and bitterness.

"That should only be done if the threat becomes substantial," Achika replied seriously. "Even with every ship in the entire empire under your command, it probably wouldn't make any difference. A pirate like Kagato wouldn't have stayed free as long as he did if he didn't know how to conceal himself. He will find away to avoid our ships."

Azusa growled. He had told Achika about the immense power emanated by the Prayer's Grounds, yet she could not truly understand how great the danger was. The secret resting place had to be protected by all means.

"You will make yourself a lot of enemies in the high society, if it turns out to be false alarm." Achika said, laying her hand on his.

Azusa just stared into the water. "At least these are enemies I can deal with," he replied.

* * *

The Yagami accelerated towards space and Tenchi watched his mother's house shrink to a small dot on the rear screen. As it finally merged within the green carpet of trees, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

The four hours that had passed since his mother had told him had been too short a time for him to come to grips with the new information. Ryoko had been the one who had placed him in front of his mother's house so many years ago.

That alone proved nothing, yet deep inside he knew that the space pirate had always been part of his strange memories and dreams.

Was she really his mother? His eyes popped open and he stared down at the small blue planet. If so, she must have known it all along. A shiver ran down his spine at the thought and he shook his head. Such speculations weren't going to get him anywhere. He had to ask her by himself.

An grim smile appeared on his face. "Ask her," he said, gazing at the dozen of planets shown on the navigation map. It had always been difficult to localize the Souja. Tenchi sighed.

He remembered Ryoko phasing out of Washu's virtual combat arena. The little scientist had told him then that she was after Kagato who had stolen the Holy Book. However, he had not the slightest idea of what might have happened while he had been imprisoned on Jurai. Kagato was a powerful opponent. It was likely that Ryoko had been unable to take up pursuit. But then again the space pirate had proved more than once that there was little she couldn't deal with.

A wailing sound from the navigation panel made him forget about Ryoko instantly. Tenchi froze when he checked the controls and realized that the sound warned him of the presence of another ship nearby. Quickly he switched the screen to front view.

Holding his breath Tenchi watched in terror at the graceful approach of a ship he knew to be extremely powerful, despite it being constructed mostly of wood. As it finally filled the whole screen, he breathed out audibly and made the Yagami stop.

Knowing that it was foolish, Tenchi clung to the hope that it was only a coincidence, that the Soto-oh had appeared directly in front of him. But his hopes were shattered instantly, as a com link was opened.

"I wonder if you are overconfident or simply careless, Masaki."

Tenchi flinched at Kagato's cold voice.

"What do you want?" he asked, wondering why all of a sudden everyone seemed to be chasing after him. First the ex-bounty hunter Nagi had attacked him and now Kagato appeared out of nowhere. And he most certainly had not come for small talk. The pirate immediately proved Tenchi's assumption.

"I am going to destroy your ship. Prepare yourself."

"Wait!" Tenchi shouted terrified. He had been wrong. Everyone was not chasing after him, everyone wanted him dead. "Why do you want to kill me?"

As he asked the question, Tenchi felt a renewed determination growing inside of him. He had beaten Nagi and was not going to let himself be blown up by Kagato just like that. He wasn't going to die now, not before he had learned the truth about his origin and his connection to the cyan haired pirate. Strangely, Tenchi's fear ebbed away at the thought and he was able to restore his composure.

There was silence for a few moments but just as he considered the possibility that Kagato's answer might be a laser blast instead of a verbal transmission, the image of the Soto-oh vanished from the screen.

Tenchi managed to hold Kagato's gaze, although he was deeply scared by the pirate who was staring him down without the slightest hint of emotion on his face.

"The answer will be of no use to you," Kagato said slowly.

Tenchi felt sized up by the two cold eyes but he didn't waver. Suddenly Kagato's stoic expression changed and before Tenchi could assess whether this was a good sign or not, the space pirate spoke up again.

"You've made yourself a name during the last months, Masaki. Sneaking into Jurai's alpha base, helping Ryoko escape from the GSP... you have caused quite a lot of trouble for an ordinary person."

'And therefore you have to die,' Tenchi added in thought. Surprised by his own sarcasm a faint smile distorted his lips.

Kagato seemed to misinterpret the gesture, for the distant cold returned to his face, but he remained silent.

Just as the silence was about to become unbearable, a strange idea occurred to Tenchi. Up to now he had thought about this confrontation with Kagato as a terrible stroke of bad luck, but obviously the space pirate didn't know where to put him. Using this advantage would be his one and only chance.

Fixing Kagato with a very serious look, Tenchi leant back in his chair, trying to hide his tension and appear outwardly relaxed.

"And what if I am no ordinary person?" he asked provocatively.

There was no emotional reaction on the pirate's face. But when he spoke his voice had lost a little of its firmness.

"Better not take me for a fool. I know exactly who you are. You were born on this backwater planet down there, an Arretian who's been lucky to be in the right place at the right time..." he shrugged with indifference. "... or unlucky, for now I have to dispose of you."

A few lights started blinking dangerously on the control panel and Tenchi flinched. The Soto-oh was charging its weapons.

His time was running out. At this distance there was no chance for him to avoid or withstand an assault by the far superior tree-ship. Once Kagato fired his weapons, the Yagami would be gone. He had to put all his eggs in one basket now.

Tenchi leaned forward. His voice was low when he spoke. "Do you know why I helped Ryoko to steal the Holy Book, ... why I organized her rescue?"

Kagato watched him, not bothering to hide that fact that his interest had been peaked.

"I did so not because she offered something in return, but because I felt obliged to her." Tenchi swallowed hard, before he continued. "I helped her because she is my mother."

For a few seconds Kagato's face remained utterly stoic. He just starred at Tenchi through the screen, but then he started chuckling. And when the chuckle turned into loud laughter Tenchi realized, that he was finished.

"And who is supposed to be the father?" Kagato asked still laughing.

Unable to understand the pirate's reaction, Tenchi felt desperate and lost. Ryoko being his real mother was the most logical conclusion. He did not want to believe it himself, but the facts couldn't be denied. How could Kagato just laugh it off?

"If you don't believe me, then tell me, why do I... seem to know her for eternity? Why are the first images I remember images of a cyan haired woman? Why did I know her even before I've ever seen a crime report? Tell me!"

The last sentence Tenchi had almost shouted, causing Kagato to at least stop chuckling. But he did not answer and therefore Tenchi calmed himself a little and continued.

"I grew up in the house of my adoptive mother. She always told me that one time she found me in a basket in front of the house just like that. But only a couple of hours ago I learned who exactly it was who had placed the basket in front of my mother's house. It was Ryoko. My mother had seen her back then."

Kagato wondered why the boy's self-confidence had changed into such desperation all of a sudden. And desperation it was, for he told him things Kagato would consider as very intimate. Did the boy just do so to convince him? But it almost seemed like he believed in this crazy story himself.

"I don't know what happened back then," he said. "But I know for sure that Ryoko has never given birth to a child."

"How would you know?" Tenchi urged. "You can't have known her for much longer than nineteen years from now. I must have been born shortly before you became partners."

Still wondering whether the boy wanted to convince him or wanted to be proven wrong, Kagato considered the question. But the conclusion remained the same.

"Impossible."

"But ... she brought me to Arret. There must be a connection." At a loss of words Tenchi lowered his eyes. "There must be a connection," he whispered, shaking his head slowly.

Neither his mother nor Kagato had reason to lie to him. Probably the truth was to be found somewhere between their statements. For quite some time he starred at the metal ground of the Yagami, lost in thought. Then he noticed the unusual silence. There was still the noise produced by the instruments around him, but the pirate hadn't spoken a word. Had Kagato already deactivated the com link?

Tenchi raised his head and was stunned.

The connection was still alive and the screen still showed the image of the space pirate. But the mask of coolness had fallen away from him. His face now showed a mix of disbelief and confusion.

Being gazed at like a ghost, Tenchi immediately started to feel uneasy.

"What's wrong?" He asked suspiciously.

Kagato's eyes thinned, when he answered.

"What kind of special abilities do you possess?"

"Special abilities?" Tenchi was shocked. He couldn't remember having mentioned his strange talents. "Well... I...," he trailed off. Never had he told someone about his abilities before and now he was trying to explain them to Kagato of all people. It felt strange to say the least, but nevertheless he felt the need to go on. Noisily he cleared his throat.

"I... ... er ... I cannot control it, but in the past, caused by the rush of battle, I have developed extraordinary fighting skills and I even managed to teleport myself twice, just like Ryoko."

"Just like every Juraian royal," Kagato replied.

"What do you mean?"

"I was wrong," the pirate stated. "Actually Ryoko did care for a baby once. But it was not her own."

Totally confused Tenchi watched as Kagato leant, obviously preparing to tell a longer story. Anxiously he waited for him to explain and after a few seconds the space pirate really spoke up.

"About nineteen years ago we sneaked our way into the Royal palace of Jurai. The plan was good and we succeeded. But as we made our escape through the Royal Woods, Ryoko saw a baby, which was about to drown in a river and took it along."

"What happened then?" Tenchi asked impatiently as it became obvious that Kagato was not going to continue.

Kagato shrugged. "We had to get rid of it of course. After all it was likely to have some connection to the royal family. Later we learned that the first crown prince of Jurai was declared dead, drowned due to an accident caused by our raid."

"You... you... mean... I..." Tenchi shook his head in disbelief.

"You are Yuro, heir to the throne of Jurai," Kagato confirmed. "Provided that you really are the boy abandoned by Ryoko," he added in a dangerous tone.

"I am..." Tenchi whispered.

This was all too much for his mind to comprehend. A few minutes ago he had been about to believe that Ryoko was his mother and now Kagato told him, that his parents were emperor Azusa and empress Achika. Could it really be true?

"But how can I be Yuro if he drowned back then?"

"It was just what they believed when they made the announcement," Kagato replied calmly. "There are rumors that they never found a corpse. Later it turned out that the princess Ayeka and her husband had been responsible for the attempt on Yuro's life, but..." he gave a dark smile, "... both of us know that they did not succeed."

Tenchi just stared at him and for quite some time neither of them spoke a word. It took almost all of Tenchi's resources to simply fight down the chaos threatening to overwhelm his thoughts.

Finally the space pirate was the one who broke the silence.

"You're lucky, Masaki. Considering these new circumstances, I'm not going to kill you."

"Thanks." Tenchi replied mechanically. Had he not entirely forgotten about the danger he had been in, maybe he would have shown more gratitude for the decision. But instead he was standing far enough above himself to even ask Kagato for the reason of his sudden change of mind.

"It's just that I do not enjoy to kill siblings," the pirate answered indifferently.

Tenchi frowned. "What..."

But he grew silent, as Kagato's expression suddenly hardened.

"Enough of that," his harsh voice came through the speakers. "You have gotten more information than you bargained for. I suggest you leave quickly now, before I change my mind."

Tenchi gulped. There was so much more he wanted to ask the pirate, but obviously Kagato was in no mood for any further conversation. Yet there was no way Tenchi could miss this chance to get a clue about the whereabouts of a certain item.

"I will fly on, if you answer me one last question."

There was no response from the pirate, which Tenchi took as a sign to continue. "You know that I was involved in the theft of the Holy Book and I'm still interested in its whereabouts. As far as I know, you took it from a scientist by the name of Washu."

As he noticed the angry gleam in Kagato's eyes, he smiled nervously. Maybe he shouldn't have asked after all.

"You better forget about the book." Kagato said harshly. He felt anger building up inside of him. The boy had been courageous to ask another question and any other he probably would have answered. But why did he have to ask about the Holy Book of all things?

Kagato stared at Masaki's image on his view screen. The boy looked too innocent for a criminal. The look in his eyes gave evidence of his clear conscience. It had been this quality that had convinced Kagato that Tenchi was unlikely to pose a threat to his own plans, like he had assumed after what Yosho had told him.

In fact, without the knowledge of his true origin, the boy wouldn't have been able to do anything. And even with the knowledge, there was little chance that he was going to make a claim for the throne of Jurai and thus endanger Yosho's plans. At least that was what the pirate had believed until a few seconds ago. Now that Tenchi had displayed an interest in the book, Kagato couldn't let him go just like that anymore.

"I don't have it," he finally said.

Beneath the scantily hidden fear, suspicion appeared in the eyes of the boy.

"I returned it to Ryoko."

"But why..." Tenchi trailed off, confusion now evident on his face. "I don't understand... why did you steal it only to give it back to her later?"

"You don't know anything about that book, do you?" Kagato asked, but did not wait for an answer. "You've been with Ryoko and she had it in her possession for quite some time. Didn't you take a look inside even once? As a Juraian royal you should have been able to read it."

"But the pages were empty. There was nothing written there," Tenchi objected as he remembered his examination of the book on board the Souja back then. Suddenly as if the access to his memory had been denied up to that moment, the golden archaic symbols returned to his mind and he also remembered the conversation with empress Achika, his mother.

"No...," Tenchi corrected himself. "I saw something. Strange symbols glowing in a golden light."

Kagato gave a brief nod and refilled with new courage Tenchi tried to recall the moment the Holy Book had revealed itself to him.

"The archaic symbols seemed to move. But then they found their place and it felt almost like they were calling out to me. I couldn't read the language but suddenly I understood. There were three symbols glowing brighter than the others." A shiver ran down his spine as he remembered the moment. "Tsunami."

"The name of our goddess was all you read?" Kagato asked, strangely distant.

Tenchi nodded. "There wasn't much time and the circumstances were... inappropriate."

"Inappropriate to read the Holy Book?" Kagato repeated, doubt in his voice. "Well, fortunately I had enough time to study the tome before I returned it to Ryoko."

"You've read it?" Tenchi exclaimed, fearing for the worst.

"Of course I did," the space pirate answered calmly.

"But then you know the location of Tsunami's resting place, you know where to find the prayers grounds." As he spoke those words, Tenchi was struck by a dreadful realization.

'If it had fallen into the wrong hands, the knowledge within might have enabled a person to wreak havoc on Jurai and the entire galaxy,' he could still hear Achika's words and they made him shiver. Now it seemed like her worst nightmares were about to come true.

"Yes, there are definitely a lot of interesting things written in there," Kagato smiled at Tenchi's discomfort. "But indeed, to find the location of the grounds turned out to be the true reason for me to take the book."

Tenchi gasped. "So you are planning to wake Tsunami? You want to obtain her power and wreak havoc on Jurai?"

Kagato inclined his head slightly and his eyes thinned. "Who told you all this?"

"I... just thought..." Tenchi stuttered but realized immediately that there was no reason to hide anything anymore. Achika had asked him to prevent the book from falling into the wrong hands, but it was already too late. And yet he wasn't going to give up that easily. He had to stop Kagato at all costs.

"Empress Achika told me about it and...," Tenchi took a deep breath before he continued, his voice firm. "... she asked me to restore the book before someone could take advantage of the knowledge within."

"Well, obviously you failed your mother," Kagato replied coldly.

A wave of fury born of defiance surged through Tenchi, but before he had a chance to tell Kagato that the last word was not spoken yet, the pirate gestured for him to be silent and spoke on.

"Your assumption is wrong," he said much to Tenchi's confusion. "I know the location of the Prayer's Grounds. But I'm not going to go there. I never had an interest in power."

Tenchi didn't need to voice his question. It must have been written clearly on his face, for after a moment of silence Kagato answered it.

"There is a royal couple desiring the throne of Jurai. They want to overthrow the emperor and take over the empire. I sympathize with their plans and therefore I provided them with the necessary information."

Tenchi felt a world breaking down on him. "You... you've told them where the Prayer's Grounds are? Then they are going to wake the goddess," he gasped. "Jurai has been at peace for hundreds of years now. The people live in wealth and prosperity all over the empire. Why do you want to end this? Why do you want to bring a peaceful nation to war?"

Kagato folded his arms in front of his chest. "You wouldn't understand it, even if I told you."

"But nobody knows what will happen when the power of Tsunami is set free. The destruction might spread beyond the borders of Jurai. Innocent people might die just because two lunatics want to obtain the ultimate power. Does that mean nothing to you?" Tenchi stared at Kagato. He already knew the answer.

"Your sister would probably be quite offended for being called so, but you are right. They are obsessed with thoughts of revenge. As for me..." A dark gleam appeared in his eyes. "... I only want to see Azusa suffer. Everything else is all the same to me."

Nodding slowly in understanding Tenchi bit his lip. "It is said that you are an outlaw of royal blood. So you only want to get your own personal revenge?"

"That has nothing to do with revenge!" Kagato replied furiously. "Azusa just has to..." He fell silent and yet Tenchi could see the hate burning in his eyes. For a few seconds he feared that he may have went too far, but Kagato quickly regained control over his emotions. "I told you, you wouldn't understand." He sighed, weary all of a sudden. "I'm no killer without conscience. If there had been another option I would have taken it without putting the lives of so many Juraians at risk. But there was none, so I told them the coordinates. You'll just have to accept it."

"I cannot," Tenchi said, his determination renewed now that he knew the motives of the pirate. "You told me that I am the crown prince of Jurai. Empress Achika is my mother and emperor Azusa my father and now you expect me to just abandon them?" He clenched his fists. "I've already disappointed my adoptive mother. I won't let it happen again. I'm going to prevent them from wakening Tsunami. Tell me where the prayer's grounds are!"

He half expected Kagato to laugh again, but the pirate remained serious.

"I would be a fool to do so."

But although he knew that the pirate was right, Tenchi still wasn't about to give up. Now was the time, he wasn't going to get a second chance. "You don't think me capable of dealing with those lunatics anyway, do you? What harm can I do to your plans? Tell me the coordinates," he urged.

"You want to throw your life away for nothing?" Kagato frowned.

Tenchi shrugged. "Trying to stop them is the least I can do."

To die was not exactly what he had in mind. In fact he had not even considered the possibility. But there would be plenty of time to deal with those problems once he had the coordinates.

"You are a strange guy." Kagato shook his head slightly. "Your pure heart might kill you one day." With those words he ended the visual transmission. "It has been a pleasure to meet you, Yuro." There was not a hint of mockery in his voice.

"Wait!" Tenchi shouted desperately but the Soto-oh was already moving on. Watching the mighty tree-ship shrinking away on the screen, he felt totally lost. For a moment desperation threatened to overwhelm him, but then he gritted his teeth and repressed the feeling. If there was no other choice, he would have to try and take up pursuit.

Just as he was about to enter a respective command, an unusual reading on one of the displays caught his attention. His mouth agape, Tenchi stared at the rolling numbers. Minutes passed until finally, unable to believe his luck, he started to laugh.

* * *

Sprawled out on the bed in her room on board the Souja Ryoko was bored out of her mind. Of course she had been aware that telling the customers that the repairs would be quick was part of the policy here and she had been well prepared for some hours or maybe even a day of waiting, but now it was already well into the third day. She could only imagine that the delay was caused by the damage to the hyperspace engines. It was said that working on them required a tremendous amount of time and patience. Right now hers was starting to wear thin.

Much to the distress of the technicians she had declined the suite offered to her and chosen to remain on board instead. Most of the time she had spent in her room, but now and then she had taken a walk around the ship and watched the work of the technicians. Like that she was able to enjoy their nervous glances and at the same time make sure that they didn't take longer than necessary.

The risk of being discovered by the Juraians was relatively low, for the repair station was a safe distance from the site of her battle with Kagato and it couldn't be found on any map. She had also done her best to mask her hyperspace signature on her way here, though with all the radiation given off by the damaged engines this probably hadn't even been necessary. No, the Juraians wouldn't find her here, but that knowledge only made the wait more tedious.

Ryoko briefly considered paying another visit to the chief of the station, asking him why it was taking so long, but that wouldn't do her any good. She had yet to decide where to go after the repairs were finished anyway. Part of her was still wondering how Tenchi was faring. He didn't have a ship when she left him at Washu's station so he was completely at her mercy. He might still be there, though it was unlikely. The scientist had probably given him a means to travel, or just sent him away somewhere. She didn't like being in company for too long. Ryoko only hoped that she had sent him to a safe place.

A hint of irritation entered her mind as she realized that she had done it again. Trying to come up with a plan of what to do next, she had ended up wondering about Tenchi's fate. This wasn't going to get her anywhere. She needed to keep her thoughts together and focus on the situation at hand.

For more than a minute she just lay there, thinking, then she sat up with a frustrated grunt. All this waiting was killing her. She desperately needed a change of air. Maybe a walk around the station would help her mind to stay in the present. Swiftly she stood and made her way for the door.

She hadn't crossed half the distance as she noticed a sudden drop in temperature, causing her to stop. A chilling breeze started to blow around her. Quickly Ryoko scanned the room, to see if she could locate the source of these most unusual phenomena, but there was nothing. Her eyes returned to the door and met a distortion in the air directly in front of her. She staggered back a few steps in surprise and, for a lack of other options, summoned her energy sword, warily slipping into a defensive stance.

The space itself seemed to twist before her, making a mockery of the door in the background. Then, as the distortion grew in size, a black slit appeared in the middle. It spread quickly and before Ryoko knew it, she was standing in front of a man-sized hole of swirling dark. A portal.

The pirate tightened her grip at the sword, ready to strike at whoever would step out of it. Seconds passed and Ryoko's tension grew. Then suddenly a person stepped out and the portal died away almost instantly.

Ryoko found herself facing a tall woman with unruly red hair, resembling hers. She was wearing a jacket of dark blue and green together with a matching long skirt. Her eyes were dyed in the most striking color of emerald.

There was a strong aura of knowledge around the woman and though she was certain that she had never seen her before Ryoko couldn't help the feeling that this person was somehow familiar to her.

The mysterious woman returned her gaze with the hint of a smile tugging at her lips. In that moment Ryoko recognized her.

"Washu!? What the..."

"I will explain everything to you, but would you mind putting away the sword first," she was interrupted by the transformed scientist.

Washu's unusual appearance had made her completely forget about the weapon in her hand. As she broke eye contact and looked down at the blade in confusion, she also remembered her anger.

"Tell me one good reason why I should do that," the pirate asked dangerously.

"Because I'm not your enemy," Washu answered with an edge of irritation in her voice. "And I have information you might find interesting."

For almost a minute their eyes remained locked in a silent duel, then Ryoko slowly loosened the grip on her sword and let it dissipate.

"How did you find me? And what about..." At a loss of words she gestured at the scientist, "... that?"

Washu sighed, but answered the questions nevertheless. "Don't forget that I virtually constructed this ship. You would think that the least I would do was to make sure that I had a means to locate it if the need arose."

Ryoko's look darkened considerably.

"As for the change," Washu continued, ignoring the pirate. "This is my true form. The girl was only a role I temporarily assumed for certain reasons."

The expression on Ryoko's face made it obvious exactly what she thought about this explanation. She had known the scientist for hundreds of years and she had always been a girl. It was hard to believe that it had just been a temporary role. However, as Washu made no attempt at further explanation, the pirate decided to swallow her doubts in favor of a much more interesting question.

"Oh well, so what's this information you have for me? Must be pretty important if you went through all the trouble of coming here only to tell me."

"I know where Tenchi is headed right now. He's facing great danger," Washu answered, her expression grave.

"What?! Where's he going?! You better not have anything to do with it."

"Before I tell you, you must understand that he's not the only one in danger," the scientist went on, ignoring Ryoko's threat. "The whole universe is at the brink of chaos."

There was a moment of complete silence.

"If this is one of your silly games again...," Ryoko started out, but didn't get to finish the sentence.

"It's the truth," she was interrupted by Washu, her expression unwavering.

Looking at the woman in front of her, Ryoko found herself tempted to believe her. She had to remind herself that, however much she had changed, she was still dealing with Washu here. Sometimes it had seemed to her like the scientist had a slight misconception of the meaning of truth.

Right then, almost as if she had read her thoughts, Washu sighed and suddenly there was a weariness in her expression which Ryoko had never thought her capable of.

"There's still some time left until Tenchi reaches his destination, so why don't we sit down and I explain everything to you." She pointed over towards the small table next to the bed. There was only a single chair, but Washu solved the problem by walking over and sitting down on the bed opposite the table, leaving the chair for Ryoko.

Meanwhile the pirate was still undecided. Part of her wanted to just grab Washu and beat Tenchi's location out of her. This part of her mind told her that the scientist was just trying to trick her, that she couldn't be trusted. But there was also another, more rational part which had realized that her looks weren't the only thing that had changed. She was serious this time.

Knowing that it would be impossible to extract information from Washu by force anyway, she reluctantly followed her lead and seated herself.

"Have you ever heard about Tsunami?" Washu asked just as Ryoko was about to urge her on.

"What the hell has that to do with Tenchi?" The pirate already started to feel like she had made a mistake.

"It has a lot to do with him. Now just answer my question."

"Of course I've heard about her. The founding goddess of Jurai. It's hard not to know about her."

"Well, she really exists." Washu made a short pause, obviously thinking about how to go on. "Or she existed, that is. The myth is true. A long time ago, thousands of millennia, Tsunami went to sleep after she had bestowed the holy seeds upon her children, the future Juraians, and a powerful seal was placed on her."

"If it happened so long ago, how would you know that it was true?" Ryoko asked dubiously.

"That is because I was the one who wrote it down in the Holy Book of Jurai."

It took a moment for the meaning of what she had just heard to register to Ryoko's mind.

"What!?" She paled. "You... you are telling me that you wrote something into the Holy Book?"

"I didn't write something into it, I authored the whole book." A smile of pride appeared on her face. "It wasn't easy to make them believe it was a present given to them by their holy goddess, but it had to be done. They had long since forgotten about the resting place of Tsunami and it was left unprotected. Someone had to make sure that no one would be able to find it by accident and who would have been better fit for the task than the Juraians themselves."

Ryoko was stunned. If only part of that was true, it would mean that Washu had played the most powerful empire this side of the universe as pawns for millennia. It was impossible.

"But the book is thousands of years old. Not even a Juraian lives that long!" By now she found herself almost hoping that Washu would tell her that it had all been just an elaborate joke. But at the same time she was starting to fear that this wasn't going to happen.

"Believe me, I'm much older than that and if my estimation is right, you will also live much longer. But there are more important matters to worry about now. Tenchi is on his way to Tsunami's resting place, the Prayers Grounds. He was rightfully lead to believe that there were some individuals, who were trying to acquire the power of Tsunami by breaking the seal and he is trying to stop them. I think you know one of them. A woman with purple hair, by the name of Ayeka. She is a direct descendant of the first house of Jurai. Together with her husband Yosho, of the second house, she was expelled from Jurai after attempted murder on her father, the emperor. Now they are trying to get there revenge by awakening Tsunami's power."

A wave of panic swept through Ryoko as she took in these new revelations. She slammed her hands on the table and rose.

"Tenchi will stand no chance against them! Where are those grounds? Tell me!!" she shouted.

Washu remained calm in spite of the outburst. "Relax. Tenchi is quite capable of dealing with them. After all he's a direct descendent of the first house as well."

Ryoko glared at the scientist. "I'm in no mood for jokes," she snarled.

Washu just rolled her eyes in response. "Oh, don't tell me you haven't figured it out by yourself yet. Remember being on Jurai lately? Let's say... about 20 years ago?"

"Of course I remember," the pirate growled. "But..."

"Does the name Arret ring a bell in that context?" The confusion on Ryoko's face deepened and Washu sighed. "It's Tenchi's home planet."

Realization struck Ryoko like a space ship in full flight, causing her to slump back to her seat. Tenchi was the boy she had saved from drowning on Jurai all those years ago. Suddenly everything fell into place. His strange powers... the strange feeling of familiarity at the sight of his mother in the picture... he was the child she had left in the care of a grieving widow on a planet close to Jurai. He was the first crown prince of Jurai, the son of Azusa himself.

"He will be able to deal with them," Washu assured once more. "But there is more to this than just two renegades trying to get their revenge."

Ryoko looked up wearily. She had yet to digest the full range of implications of what she just heard and already the scientist was about to go on.

"It's important that you listen carefully to what I'm going to tell you now. In all my life I have only told this to one other person before." Ryoko nodded, temporarily having lost the ability to speak. "Good. You already know the origin myth of Jurai and I told you it was true. Tsunami gave the seeds to her people, the ancestors of the Juraians, and went to sleep. But have you ever wondered why a goddess would decide to put herself to eternal sleep just like that?" She didn't wait for an answer. "Well, she didn't have much say in the matter. Tsunami had two sisters and with one of them she was at war. Both sisters had developed an interest in human emotions and desires, but where Tsunami sought balance and tranquillity, her sister sought power and control. Tsunami's sister goddess was known to men by the name of Tokimi."

Ryoko shuddered at the mention of the name. She couldn't quite place the feeling, but there was something dark about the sound of it.

"In order to defeat Tokimi, Tsunami sacrificed herself to be sealed away together with her sister, never to be reawakened."

"Didn't you say that there were three sisters? What about the third? Why didn't she step in?" The story had a strange charm, to which Ryoko had succumbed.

"She watched the whole development with slight interest. Unable to understand how her sisters could have gotten so obsessed with their ideas, she decided that for the sake of the universe it would be better if they remained sealed away. So she took it upon herself to watch over the seal," Washu explained, her voice strangely distant. "But as the millennia passed for her with the bond to her sisters gone, she grew eccentric and lost most of her powers, as well as a huge part of her memory. One of the few things that remained of the last goddess was her name. She was called Washu."

Silence fell and only after the pirate had gazed at the woman in front of her for more than a full minute she finally spoke up.

"So now you are telling me that you are a goddess? What's next? Am I the queen of Jurai?" Actually that wasn't what she had intended to say, the words had just flowed out by themselves.

"I was a goddess, but that was long ago. What I told you is all I remember and even those things are fading as well. They feel more like the memories of someone else than my own." Her eyes had taken on a far away look. It lasted only for a second before she returned to the present. "Anyway, at one time in the past I realized that the seal was loosing power. Obviously Tokimi had found a way to weaken it. The process was slow, but I knew that eventually she would be able to free herself. So I searched my memory for a way to reinforce it and I remembered a person, covered in an aura of shining light, a spirit of purity. And instantly I knew that it needed such a person to reinforce the seal. I made the search for that person my primary objective, but thousands of years passed until I finally found a promising youth. At that time I was certain that he was the one." There was a hint of bitterness in her voice now and she was visibly struggling to go on.

"I was desperate enough to overlook his eagerness about gaining scientific knowledge. As I finally revealed the existence of Tsunami to him, he quickly became obsessed with her and shortly after he left in search for a way to awaken her by himself. In his madness he never realized that this would mean to set free Tokimi as well."

"Why the hell are you telling me all of this and what does it have to do with Tenchi?" Ryoko asked as she realized that Washu wasn't about to go on.

The scientist took a deep breath before she answered, but was only partly successful at hiding her excitement. "He is the one I have been searching for forever. Tenchi Masaki, or Yuro Jurai, is the holder of the power to manipulate the seal."

Ryoko blinked. "Meaning?" she asked, not quite catching on to Washu's drift.

The expression of the scientist darkened and excitement was quickly converted to more than slight annoyance. "It means that he is our last hope to prevent the worst. If Tokimi is set free, nobody will be able to stop her. First she will eradicate Jurai and then she will plunge the universe into chaos."

Ryoko thought for a moment, still trying to make sense of what Washu was telling her. Somehow she got a feeling that there was still a part missing to the puzzle.

"But didn't you just say that Tenchi would be able to deal with those Juraians? So where's the problem? He'll just go up and do whatever is necessary to keep this goddess from waking." She was having troubles imagining Tenchi standing up against two Juraians as powerful as the woman she had met, but if what Washu had told her was true it should be essentially possible.

"The problem is that the seal is about to break. At the current rate, a powerful energy reaction might already be enough to breach it. Now there is a very high probability that the three of them will get into a fight in which they will use all of their powers...," she trailed off.

All of a sudden Ryoko felt the fear from before return. "And if that happens..."

"... Tokimi will devour them as an appetizer," Washu finished the sentence for her.

"I need to go," the pirate said simply, but with determination.

"And I won't stop you, but there is more. Yosho is not acting entirely on his free will in trying to acquire the power of Tsunami. He has been manipulated by the man I told you about, my former student. This man is very dangerous. He will do everything to see Yosho succeed in waking Tsunami and he is extremely powerful. You need to be careful."

"I will not let him harm Tenchi." Ryoko rose from her seat. She needed to act right away. "Can you take me there?"

"No, opening a portal close to the Prayers Grounds would be too much of a risk. The energy reaction might breach the seal." She followed Ryoko's lead and walked over to the middle of the room, where she had emerged. "You need to get there by yourself. I already gave the coordinates to the Souja. The sooner you leave, the better, there's not much time left." A portal started to open up behind her.

Though the pirate knew that now was the time to say her thanks, she remained silent.

"And Ryoko...," The portal had fully opened but instead of stepping through Washu turned around to face the pirate once more. "Good luck. You'll need it." With that she vanished into the portal and it collapsed almost the same instant she had stepped through, returning the room to its original silence.

For a moment Ryoko just remained standing there, trying to sort her way through the chaos that was her mind. Finally she came to the decision that there would be enough time to do this later. For now she was going to pay her visit to the chief of the station.

* * *

Chapter notes:

As for this chapter, the scene with Washu, the talk of Tenchi and his mother, as well as the final scene between Ryoko and Washu were written by me. My sister wrote the scene with Azusa and Tenchi's encounter with Kagato.

I think with this chapter it's getting obvious that we are drawing closer to the conclusion now. However, don't make the mistake to assume that the last word has been spoken. There's still more to come.

Now let me express my special thanks to all those people who have encouraged me to write on during the last months and of course to everyone who took the time and wrote me a review. It's great to see that there are actually people reading our story. Please keep it up, I would never have gotten that far without your support.

Finally, as always, special thanks to Geor-sama, who helped me correct some nasty mistakes.

See you in the next chapter.


	16. Corrupted Purity

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of their original creators and all those affiliated with them. I have neither created them, nor do I own them. Any new characters as well as the events within this story are created by me and my sister, so they are our property. This story is written for fun and as an homage to the world of Tenchi.

* * *

Chapter 15 - Corrupted Purity

Surrounded by the everlasting darkness of space the planet seemed insignificant, almost lost. Yet it was the home world of millions of proud people and center of the mightiest empire in the galaxy.

Watching the violet planet on the screen Kagato felt a strange and unexpected emotion. Since he had left Jurai as a youngster he had only twice returned for a short visit. Last time had been with Nagi and Ryoko on their first joint mission twenty years ago. But although he had spent by far most of his life on board of the Soto-oh, the emotional relation to his home world was obviously still rather strong. Somehow he could understand Yuro and his care for Jurai and its people.

Kagato banished the disturbing thoughts by shaking his head briefly and concentrated again. The distance between the planet and the Soto-oh was as far as it should be in order to avoid rising suspicion among the numerous ships that were going about their business in the closer vicinity of Jurai. Nevertheless he had to be careful.

But just like for the last hour there seemed to be no unusual activity in orbit. The fact definitely troubled Kagato. He had learned that most of the available forces had been ordered to the prayer's grounds and had automatically assumed that more ships of the resident fleet would be dispatched to follow as soon as possible. But although a lot of ships had left orbit since he had arrived, only few of them had been military vessels and none had been headed for the right coordinates.

Kagato leant back in his chair, wondering whether Azusa was not aware of the danger or if he just wanted to wait until the storm came upon him. It was a wise decision to hold back some resources in order to defend Jurai when the chaos broke loose, assuming that the enemy could be defeated. But if that would prove impossible Azusa would have lost the chance to stop the evil power right at the source, because there was no doubt that without reinforcements, especially by the royal families, Kunrin's fleet alone wouldn't be able to deal with the power of Tsunami.

In fact Kagato was a little surprised. He hated Azusa with all his heart but had never doubted him to be an intelligent man. But such a man would have mobilized all forces to prevent the seeds of evil from growing, he would have sent each and every ship to the prayer's grounds, regardless of the consequences and even thrown himself into combat in order to defend the civilization of Jurai. Kagato clenched his fists. That was just like Azusa. Let others die in his place. And a lot of innocent people would die if Yosho and Ayeka were to come and engage in combat with him and the other powerful noblemen right on the planet.

The pirate took a deep breath and stared at the front screen, imagining the lush green woods ablaze with the fires of hate and war. He hadn't thought that Azusa would stay on the planet. The emperor was supposed to lead all the remaining ships, including the tree-ships of the royal families, directly into the arms of Yosho and his sister. That way the couple would have gotten rid of every dangerous opponent and, once they returned to the scared people of Jurai, probably would have had an easy time claiming the throne. So much for the plan...

Kagato stood and started walking across the bridge, deeply lost in thought.

Azusa must not be on the planet when Yosho and Ayeka came. And they would come with incredible power, that much was for sure. The young Yuro was not going to stand a chance against the couple. Even if he had been in full possession of his powers as a direct descendent to the throne, he would still lack the skill and the coolness to defeat his sister. His naivety would just cost him his life.

For a moment Kagato regretted having sent Yuro the coordinates, but he quickly banished the thought and went back to thinking about more important matters.

Minutes passed, seeing the pirate in deep contemplation. Then he finally stopped his pacing and turned to look at the front screen, a new determination in his eyes.

"Looks like you leave me no choice," he murmured and told the Soto-oh to enter orbit of the violet planet.

* * *

Somewhere far away a sun was setting, coloring the thick layer of dust in the atmosphere. The tiny particles dyed the sky in various shades of red, giving it the appearance of a whirling pool of blood. Now and then the motion would slow down and the colors would start to merge into an even darker shade, but before long the process would be cut short by another gust, which once again separated the colors along its path.

But as full of color and motion the sky was, as monotonous and frozen was the environment down at the surface of the planet. Bathed in the dying light of the day lay a city of ruins. Covered by a thick layer of yellow dust the remains of ancient buildings, streets and squares strechted as far as the eye could see.

Judging from the enormous size of the city and the unusual material and architecture of what remained of the buildings it must have once been inhabited by an advanced civilization. However, not as advanced as the weapons which had brought them down. Nothing seemed to have escaped unfazed from the destruction that had been wrought here. Skyscrapers had fallen, houses crumbled and in some places there was nothing left at all, except some small hills of the omnipresent dust.

The scene would have been one of tranquility, if it wasn't for the wind roaming through the various openings of some of the collapsed buildings. The sound it produced was chilling, almost as if the souls of the dead were still present, screaming their torment.

"If I was a goddess, I would have chosen another resting place," Ayeka said, tearing her gaze from the ruins to look down at her black boots which were, much to her discomfort, already smeared with the yellow dust as well.

Yosho, who was walking right next to her, just kept staring straight ahead.

"Maybe she didn't have much choice," he said barely above a whisper.

Ayeka was surprised, for it actually sounded like he was deep in thought. Such moments of reflection had grown increasingly scarce for her husband in the past. However, the moment was cut short as he turned to look at her, a cynical smile on his face.

"But soon you will be a goddess and rest assured that I will see to it that your corpse will be buried under a huge flourishing tree."

"I would appreciate that." Ayeka returned the smile. "But before my bones merge with the soil again, a few things have to be done, taking revenge for example."

"Yes, Azusa will kneel before us and apologize before he dies," Yosho replied grinning, "I'm also eagerly awaiting the moment we march into the council chamber and liquidate everyone who opposes us by a mere thought."

"We will finally take the place that is rightfully ours. We will become the rulers of the mightiest empire in universe!" Her laughter rang out through the desolate streets.

Suddenly Yosho stopped, an expression of concentration on his face. The laughter died away instantly and Ayeka held her steps as well.

"You felt it too, didn't you?" She asked, grabbing the book she was carrying under her left arm more tightly.

"Of course I did," Yosho snapped. "It was the same energy Funaho had detected. It seems we are getting closer now. Come on."

Ayeka watched her husband walking on. "What awesome power," she whispered and followed him slowly.

For quite some time they walked through the ruins only accompanied by the muffled sound of their steps and the creepy whistling of the wind. Yosho was heading towards some small mountains, which seemed to make up the natural border of the city. Ayeka silently wondered if he had any clue about the location of the prayer's grounds or if he just followed the direction the energy had come from.

When they reached a relatively plain area free of debris, Ayeka made him stop.

"Wait a moment. Do you really know where we are going?" She asked suspiciously. "I have no intention of spending hours on hours by walking through this yellow dirt."

Yosho turned to her. "You are the one with the Holy Book, so you should know."

Ayeka's expression hardened. She couldn't tell him that it wasn't easy to read the book. It had taken her a lot of time just to get the information about the location of the planet. Actually she had never really thought about the problem of locating Tsunami's resting place on the surface and Yosho had seemed confident enough of where to land their ships.

"There is nothing written about the exact location," she lied smoothly.

"May I take a look?" Yosho extended his hand for the book but Ayeka retreated a step.

"You don't believe me?" She asked sharply.

A faint smile appeared on Yosho's lips.

"No need to get angry, I..." He broke off in mid-sentence and they both turned to look into the direction of the hills. Seconds passed and finally Yosho's smile grew wider. "Well, I think it's obvious now where we need to go," he stated simply.

Ayeka nodded. What they had experienced was another wave of spiritual power, on a scale she had never even thought possible. And this time it had been more defined. There was no doubt that it had emanated from somewhere among the hills.

"It has to be somewhere over there," she pointed into the vague direction and thought for a moment. "The only way something could have survived here is if it has been constructed underground."

"I thought so too," Yosho agreed.

It took them almost another hour to reach the border of the city. They walked in silence, but Ayeka noticed that the frequency of the strange spirit waves was increasing as they approached their destination. As they finally left the long shadows of the last ruins and stepped out onto the open ground that separated the city from its natural border, it had increased almost to the rate of a slow heartbeat. Ayeka felt herself getting lost in the feeling of power, it was exhilarating and each time it passed over her she felt to urge to let herself be swept away with it growing stronger.

"Now that's neat."

The voice of Yosho shook her out of her reverie and she experienced a moment of disorientation before she caught on to his meaning. They were now approaching one of the mountains they had already seen from the distance. Though it wasn't exactly large, the inclines were rather steep and she probably wouldn't be able to climb it. However, that wasn't what Yosho had been referring to. About ground level, a small artificial grotto had been cut into the stone.

Behind them the sun was setting, making the walls of the strange construction glow in an eerie shade of red as they entered. Right in the middle of the grotto there was something resembling a door and Yosho walked over to it. Upon closer inspection it became obvious that some kind of symbols must have once covered the surface, but they had been worn away by the wind. Ayeka shuddered, both at the power that was emanating from those stone plates and at the thought of how incredibly old this place must have been.

"I doubt it can be opened just like this," Yosho said but nevertheless tried. He pushed with all his might and even used Funaho's power, but the solid stone didn't budge. Instead there was another surge of energy and this time it was stronger than ever.

"We must be very close," Ayeka's voice trembled with excitement.

Yosho wiped the sweat off his forehead and turned around to face her.

"So why don't you take a look in the book, while I try to find a way to open it? Maybe there's something written about how to pass the door."

Ayeka thought for a moment. "I will do so," she finally agreed. With a gesture of her hand she freed a nearby boulder of the obstrusive dust and placed herself on it. And while Yosho's fingers moved carefully over the faded symbols, she became absorbed in the Holy Book.

It had taken them a long time and much effort to come that far. They wouldn't be stopped by a simple stone door now.

* * *

The huge hangar doors opened with a hiss. Azusa gestured the knights to stay outside and entered the hall. Lights flared to life immediately but although he was prepared for the sight, the apparition was so impressive, it made him hold his breath for a second.

Waiting there, its majestic wooden wings extended from one end of the hangar to the other, the lights reflecting on their smooth surface, was his tree-ship.

"Kirito," Azusa murmured as a welcome, although he knew that the ship was already well aware of his presence. During the last few days he had often entered the hangar and every time the silent conversation with Kirito had served to brighten his mood.

Azusa stepped closer to the ship until there was only a distance of about two feet left between him and the hull, then he turned around slowly. The hangar door was still open and Azusa's gaze wandered from the left to the right. The knights were out of sight. Pleased by that fact he turned to Kirito again and touched the wood carefully.

"Maybe everything will turn out all right after all," he said lowly, the doubt in his voice obvious.

The talk with Kunrin just a couple of minutes ago had brought a glimmer of hope to Azusa's mind. The fleet had arrived in the Gemina system but according to the preceptor, there was no sign of any unusual activity. Of course Kunrin didn't know what he had to look for, but the entrance of a tree-ship into the system would certainly not have escaped his attention.

Azusa started to walk slowly alongside the hull of the ship.

It was still hard to believe that after all these years Kagato seemed to have finally decided to fight him by brute force. In fact Azusa was unable to believe him to be so shortsighted as to endanger the entire population. If anything at all, it had always been just a personal matter and an honorable person, which Azusa believed the pirate still was, would never involve innocent people. Then again maybe his hate had started to cloud Kagato's judgment over the course of all those years. Azusa sighed when the memory of long lost times came upon him.

As he felt the support of Kirito he let go off the unpleasant memories and stopped his pace.

'You are right,' he thought. 'There are more important matters to deal with right now'. The council session this afternoon for example. Azusa felt his mood darken at the thought of the long discussion of totally unimportant matters. After hearing the news from Kunrin he had decided against a precipitate dissolution of the council, but maybe he should dissolve it after all.

The fleet now stationed in the Gemina system counted close to one hundred heavily armed ships, so Kunrin should be able to deal with every upcoming problem. And since fortunately there seemed to be none so far, there was no need to dissolve the council in order to mobilize an even greater force. Yet despite all the odds, Azusa had a really bad feeling about this whole thing.

Suddenly a powerful energy reaction caught his attention. Immediately Azusa teleported himself in front of the ship and scanned the entrance area of the hangar. But the aura he had felt was gone and everything seemed quite again.

Yet Azusa knew for sure that there was something going on out there, something he did not like. Moving his hand to the hilt of his light sword, he tensed.

"Not easy to trick you, is it?" A voice came from outside.

Azusa's eyes widened when he recognized it.

"Kagato," he said, unable to keep the surprise from his voice.

"The very same," the pirate answered and stepped out from behind the doorway into the hangar. "I knew you would be glad to see me, father."

Azusa got angry at the mockery in Kagato's voice, but his voice was indifferent when he spoke. "It's quite an achievement to enter the royal hangar unauthorized. How did you do it?"

A faint smile appeared on Kagato's face. "I go where I want to. Don't underestimate my possibilities." He slowly approached Azusa as he spoke.

"You want to threaten me?" Azusa asked sharply, ready to draw on Kirito's powers.

Kagato stopped at a safe distance and looked at him gravely.

"This time I will keep my promise. I'm not going to attack you," he said.

For quite some time they just stared at each other. But as the silence became uncomfortable Azusa relaxed and cleared his throat audibly.

"Well then," he started. "What do you want in exchange for the book?"

He didn't miss the puzzled look on Kagato's face, but the pirate regained control immediately and when he answered his voice was firm. "I'm not here to offer a trade. There is much more at stake than a few pages of ancient writing. You should know that."

"Of course I do," Azusa hissed. Then he realized what exactly Kagato's words meant and his face lost a bit of its color. "What have you done?" he asked flatly.

"My role was of minor importance." Kagato held his father's gaze and continued. "You may remember that Ryoko was the one who stole the book from the alpha base. I have come to believe that she was hired by your daughter. Ayeka is probably in possession of the book right now."

"What? Ayeka?" Azusa replied horrified. Realizing that his worst nightmares would come true and he couldn't prevent it, his initial shock turned into anger. He stared at Kagato, fury burning in his eyes. "Don't take me for a fool," he shouted and closed in on the pirate. "You handed her the book, didn't you? You don't care if thousands of innocent people die or if our planet is turned into a wasteland. The only thing that is important to you is your revenge."

A little taken aback by Azusa's sudden outburst Kagato retreated a step. There was no way Azusa could possibly know that the book had been in his possession for a while, so why did he accuse him like that.

"I wasn't the one who turned the book over to Ayeka," he said as calmly as possible. Azusa had already come dangerously close, but he stopped when Kagato continued, suspicion clearly written on his face. "Neither did I hand it to Yosho, who hired me to get it in the first place."

Azusa took a deep breath. "So the little brat lied to us," he murmured.

First Kagato did not understand what the emperor was talking about, but then suddenly everything fell in place.

"You talked with Masaki," he stated.

"I knew he was up to no good right from the start," Azusa hissed, then his eyes thinned. "You know him?"

"We met a while back." Kagato tried to sound as indifferent as possible. "But be assured that he..." he stopped in mid sentence and cursed inwardly. He had had quite a head start but now his time was running short.

Azusa too felt that someone was approaching. "If they find you here, I can do nothing to stop them from taking you," he said seriously.

"I know," Kagato replied. "So I think its about time that I tell you why I took the risk of coming here."

Azusa hesitated a moment, then he nodded briefly and vanished. Kagato could already hear the shouts of the knights outside, but he didn't pay them attention. Slowly he walked towards Azusa's tree-ship. It really was quite a sight.

Kagato closed his eyes and revealed himself to Kirito. For a moment he feared that his true intention would be unveiled, but Kirito accepted him. A satisfied smile on his face Kagato teleported on board.

"Take a seat," Azusa pointed towards a wooden seat and placed himself opposite on a similar construction.

Kagato followed suit and while he was still taking a look around he addressed Azusa. "Quite an impressive ship you have here," he gazed at the emperor. "You should consider bringing it into action."

There was a strange look on Azusa's face but he remained silent and Kagato continued.

"Yosho and Ayeka are about to gain Tsunami's power, but probably they haven't reached the prayer's grounds yet. There's still a chance to stop them before they are able to break the seal."

Azusa looked at him suspiciously. "So you've come here to warn me? ... Excuse me, but that is rather hard to believe," he said lowly but then raised his voice again as he spoke on. "You want to lure me away, don't you? What are you planning, Kagato? Do you want to claim the throne in my absence?"

"I'm not interested in power," Kagato said, annoyance vibrating in his voice. "The real enemy of the empire is out there trying to reach the prayer's grounds. The Soto-oh cannot deal with two tree-ships, not to speak of Tsunami's power. But together with part of the remaining fleet we might be able to wear them down."

Just when Azusa opened his mouth to reply another wave of energy made itself felt. Both Kagato and Azusa were stunned when Achika materialized between them. They rose from their seats as one.

The empress eyed Kagato for a moment then turned to her husband. "An unauthorized ship has entered the royal airspace some minutes ago. It landed close to the hangar, so we already feared you were facing danger. The two knights outside were found severely wounded. Is everything all right, darling?"

Azusa nodded slightly embarrassed. "It is. He just came to talk." When Achika stepped up next to him and eyed Kagato with poorly hidden interest, he remembered the royal manners and cleared his throat.

"Er... May I introduce, the space pirate Kagato...," he nodded towards the green haired pirate who lowered his head for a second, "... Empress Achika."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, my lady," Kagato said smoothly.

"I cannot say the same for myself," Achika replied icily. "So you are here to deliver the book?"

"No. I just wanted to warn you."

Surprise and disbelief mixed on Achika's face, but before she was able to respond Azusa spoke up.

"It is no longer in question that the theft of the book is about to bring forth a catastrophe. Ayeka and Yosho are in possession of it right now. They must be stopped before they get a chance to reach the prayer's grounds. Even if they knew the exact location, if Kunrin's fleet was to fail at this task, they might not be able to handle the consequences. So I will take care of it by myself. And..." he raised his index finger. "... just in case it is already too late and Tsunami's power is set free before our arrival, I will dissolve the council and take half of the fleet, as well as some of the more powerful noblemen of the other houses with me. Ayeka and her wicked husband will get no chance to devastate our planet."

"You think that's the right decision?" Achika asked, her voice trembling slightly.

"I do. The council cannot be convinced so it has to be dissolved. There's too much at stake now for me to worry about my reputation."

"I see." Achika nodded sadly.

"Putting faith in Masaki has been a mistake. He's not on our side."

Achika looked up at her husband, her face very serious. "Maybe you are making a mistake putting your faith in him." She nodded towards Kagato.

"We'll see," Azusa replied, wanting to put an end to this useless debate. "As for now be so kind to tell the knights outside that everything is all right. They are getting nervous. I will follow you soon."

Achika nodded, gave Kagato another dark look and vanished.

The pirate had been listening to the conversation indifferently the whole time. But once the empress had left, he addressed Azusa again.

"I'm honored that you decided to trust me."

Azusa returned his gaze. "I do not trust you. I trust in Kirito's wisdom."

Kagato frowned but Azusa gestured for him to remain silent. "Enough time has been wasted," he growled. "Wait here. I will inform the council. Our fleet will be ready to set out within the hour." Azusa hesitated for a moment as if he wanted to say more, but then he made an angry sound and teleported out of the ship.

Kagato returned to his seat.

Everything had worked out just fine so far. Nevertheless a bad feeling lingered in the back of his mind. Throughout the conversation he had come to realize that it was him who might have been able to prevent the book from falling to the sinister couple. Back then he had not recognized the full consequences of his actions. Bestowed with some extra power Yosho had seemed to be just the right person to take Azusa's place. But when the short tempered Yosho or his sister proved unable to control the power they set free, all life, not just Jurai, might be destroyed. And all this just because...

Kagato's head jerked up. "Stop that!" he shouted. "You can't make me think I did wrong." He tried to connect with the Soto-oh in order to teleport away, but just felt the omnipresent Kirito touch his mind once more.

Dark blurred images moved in front of his eyes. Hastily Kagato closed the connection but one image remained in his memory. It showed two Juraians he had never seen together and surprisingly both, Azusa and his mother seemed to be happy.

"You're only trying to appease my hate towards Azusa," Kagato said knowing that he was wrong. The mighty trees of Jurai never followed any purpose. Everything they did, they did just because it was right.

For quite a while Kagato fought an internal struggle but finally he decided to share Kirito's memories. "I'm not as stubborn as him," he said and relaxed.

But Kirito did not only let him take part in the life of his mother, it also gave him a feel of the power sleeping within the seal. And that was when he finally understood that Kirito had been right. Underestimating the power of the sleeping Tsunami he had indeed made a mistake. But he still believed in what he had told Azusa. Ayeka and Yosho probably hadn't reached the prayer's grounds yet, so there was still a chance to stop them.

Kagato stood. He was not going to wait for Azusa to return.

* * *

Tenchi was feeling ill at ease. The sun was setting behind the ruins of some unknown civilization and the thought of walking this ghastly place in the dark made him shiver. But the two ships the Yagami had discovered on the surface spoke a clear language. If he waited for the next day it would probably be too late. Maybe he was already too late anyway.

He quickened his steps in some vain attempt to catch up with the two and tried his best to suppress his fear. It wasn't easy. The small hills and crumbled buildings looked like they were bathed in blood by the light of the sun, a foreboding scenery which always made Tenchi's mind return to the upcoming confrontation. And then there were those strange surges of power. Every now and then his mind would be swamped with an incredible spiritual power. At first the phenomenon had been erratic, but as he had made his way through the deserted city, it had grown more steady and directed. By now he could clearly pinpoint the direction of the source and had started to follow it. There was no doubt that his destination would lie there.

From the sky he had studied the layout of the city. It resembled a circle of enormous size, a surprising fact, for normally the border of a city of such a scale wouldn't be clearly drawn. But obviously the people who had built this place had done so under strict regulations. Behind the last buildings lay an area of open ground, followed by a strange shallow mountain range, which encircled the entire city.

Right now he was headed for one of those mountains. There he would most likely find his sister and her husband, for he knew it was the source of the strange power. Approaching it, he grew more uneasy with every passing minute. There was something else about this spiritual force, which was pulsing through his body like a slow heartbeat by now. Of course the feeling was terrific and the urge to give in to it, to embrace it was almost painful, and yet he resisted. In the very back of his mind, almost imperceptible, he also felt a strange presence, eagerly enticing him to use the power, tempting him to release it. There was something very wrong here.

Finding it increasingly difficult to resist the temptation, Tenchi quickened his steps and soon cleared the border of the city. The space that separated the town from the surrounding mountains was a wasteland with no distinguishing features, just a plain covered by yellow dust. Actually the ground was almost unnaturally even, making the mountains appear higher and all the more threatening.

Tenchi knew he was very close now. He could feel the source of the power up ahead. His hopes for the chance of a stealthy approach smashed, he made a couple of tentative steps out onto the open ground. Then he suddenly stopped again. Some distance to his right there were footprints in the sand, apparently produced by two pair of booted feet. Tenchi's heart was hammering in his chest. They were actually here and the trail had to be fresh, otherwise it would have been covered by the wind already.

Though deep inside Tenchi knew that it was impossible, up to now he had still clung to the vain hope of avoiding a confrontation. But now reality struck him full force. He would have to face them and he would have to do it head on without any cover or element of surprise. But he had already made his choice. He would not run away anymore, neither from the danger he was facing, nor from himself.

Steeling himself he moved on. For what seemed like a small eternity to him he walked the open ground with the setting sun behind him. It had just started to disappear behind the ruins when he spotted the cave and the two figures within. He was both relieved and terrified at the sight. They obviously hadn't been able to gain access to the sanctuary yet, so he still had a chance. However, it made him wonder once again about how exactly he was supposed to stop them. Knowing that there was no answer to this particular question, he tried his best to ignore it and moved on. At least it seemed like they hadn't noticed him so far.

It was almost dark as Tenchi finally reached the cave, which actually turned out to be more of a small grotto upon closer inspection. And much to his surprise he still remained unnoticed. They probably weren't expecting any uninvited guests. The man was busy examining a strange stone plate at the center of the tiny cavern, most likely the entrance to the sanctuary. His back was turned to Tenchi, so he couldn't see his face, but he was tall and muscular, though not overly so in both regards. Even Tenchi's untrained eye could tell that he would probably make for a formidable opponent.

Carefully, as to not draw any unwanted attention, he averted his eyes to take a look at the woman. His sister, Ayeka, was sitting on a rock close by, intently studying what he took to be the Holy Book. Her beautiful face framed by strands of purple hair, she definitely was attractive and Tenchi had a hard time to imagine that she was the woman who had tried to drown him as a child. But then, he knew from experience that looks could be deceiving.

Feeling his gaze, Ayeka suddenly looked up. Her eyes widened in surprise, which quickly gave way to panic and for a moment Tenchi almost feared that she would attack him right on, but she regained some control of her emotions almost instantly.

"Yosho!"

"What is it? Did you find something?" the man asked over his shoulder.

"Not exactly..."

"Then why are you... what the...!" He had turned around to ask for the reason of the sudden disturbance and spotted Tenchi immediately.

"Who are you? And how the heck did you get here?" he shouted after going through an emotional routine similar to the one Tenchi had watched his sister going through before.

It was an easy enough question and yet Tenchi didn't know how to answer it. Who was he? He wasn't sure anymore. Tenchi Masaki, officer of the Galaxy Police? Yuro Jurai, heir to the throne? Or maybe Tenchi, the pirate? He felt completely lost.

"Answer me, damn it!" Yosho shouted, his voice almost breaking.

Tenchi looked up to meet his eyes and saw the fire of madness burning there. The man was insane. The realization struck him like a blow. If he gained access to the power slumbering here, not only the people of Jurai but the entire galaxy would be plunged into chaos. And he, Tenchi Masaki, the outlaw, was the only one who would be able to prevent it.

"My name is Tenchi Masaki and I'm here to stop you," he said, his voice firm.

"Masaki you say? Masaki..." The fire in Yosho's eyes was replaced by a look of contemplation. Then, all of a sudden, his lips turned up into a smile, but as his cold eyes didn't match the emotion, it was a very unsettling sight. "Ah, so Kagato failed. I take it you killed him?"

A moment of confusion passed for Tenchi before he realized Yosho's logic. A strong wave of anger washed over him and he frowned.

"I didn't kill anybody. He was the one who told me how to get here."

"He told you? But why would he do that?" Now it was Yosho's turn to be surprised. But before Tenchi had a chance to answer his question, the fire of madness suddenly returned to his eyes. "... that miserable traitor. I should have known that he couldn't be trusted. Once I acquire the power of Tsunami, I will make him suffer until he regrets the day he was born. Yes, that will..."

"Nobody is going to suffer at your hands," Tenchi cut him off, surprised at how calm his own voice sounded. "I will not allow you to defile the sanctuary."

Yosho's face contorted in anger. "Who do you think you are to stop us? Just go to hell!"

He raised his hand and Tenchi barely managed to bring up his arm and ready himself before he was struck by an incredible wave of power. It took him all his strength just to keep his footing and he was pushed back a couple of feet, leaving a trail as he skidded through the sand. When the attack finally dissipated and he lowered his arm, he was breathing heavily.

Trying to ignore the toll this initial attack had taken on him, Tenchi took the energy sword from his belt, activated it and moved into a combat stance.

"An energy sword?" Yosho raised an eyebrow. "This is starting to get interesting."

"Be careful, Yosho. There's something strange about him," Ayeka suddenly shouted.

"I didn't know you to get scared so easily," he answered, never taking his eyes off Tenchi. "Just leave him to me. I will take care of him in no time." His eyes narrowed as he returned his full attention to his opponent and activated his own sword. "Prepare to die!"

With those words he charged and although Tenchi had prepared himself the attack came much faster than he had expected. He barely had the time to bring up his sword and block the initial swipe. The blades connected with terrible force and he was sent stumbling back a step. His opponent followed up immediately and covered him with a flurry of attacks, each of which seemed to be faster and more powerful than the last one. In a corner of his mind Tenchi realized that he wouldn't be able to keep up with this pace for long. It was only a few seconds since the battle had started and he was already tiring.

Obviously Yosho had come to the same conclusion, for he was now sporting a confident grin. Tenchi blocked another attack and quickly retreated a few steps. Fortunately, Yosho didn't follow up immediately this time, allowing him to catch his breath.

Panting, he used the chance to quickly check the condition of his opponent. He didn't like what he saw. Yosho wasn't even out of breath and the arrogant smile he was boosting had widened even more. He really had all the advantages. Speed, power and an enhanced perception. Once he came at him again, the mere thought of a counter attack would be ridiculous. Somehow the thought triggered a memory.

'Even when you are meeting an opponent who is much stronger or faster than you and you end up being forced into the defensive you must not let the battle get out of hand,' his grandfather had told him and suddenly Tenchi knew what he had to do. It was risky, but he had nothing to lose.

Not waiting for Yosho to come at him again, Tenchi reinitiated the battle by covering the gap between them in a charge. He brought down his sword in a powerful two handed swipe, but the attack was parried with ease and he suddenly found himself at the receiving end of a flashing counter, which he avoided only by scrambling back out of range of his opponent's blade at the last moment. However, the hasty retreat left him vulnerable for a follow up attack and Yosho wasted no time in utilizing this opening. His blade licked out at Tenchi in a deadly thrust, but having seen it coming, Tenchi managed to sidestep the attack and before Yosho had a chance to realize his mistake, the bright blue blade made contact with his exposed mid-section.

Or at least it should have. No more than an inch from cutting through clothes and flesh the sword hit an invisible barrier, causing Tenchi to almost lose his grip on it. He didn't have time to contemplate this most unexpected development however, as the handle of Yosho's sword hit him hard in the side of his head, sending him tumbling to the ground.

His senses were hazed for a second by the blow and his impact on the dusty ground, but he was conscious enough to roll to the side, evacuating the spot where Yosho's sword hammered home the next moment. Acting on instinct he thrust out his leg, hitting Yosho in the ankle. The kick wasn't strong enough to cause any real damage, but it sent his opponent off balance, giving Tenchi the time to swiftly jump to his feet.

He steadied himself, expecting another attack, but none came. Yosho just stood there, the arrogance in his expression partially replaced by something that bore a close semblance to excitement. Tenchi's heart sank even deeper as he realized that his opponent was enjoying this fight.

"You are better than I thought. But it will take a lot more to defeat me," Yosho stated gleefully.

And he was right. Tenchi had no idea of how to penetrate a Juraian force field and Yosho probably wouldn't fall for the same trick twice anyway. Even if he somehow did manage to defeat the Juraian, he would still have to face his sister and he had no doubt that she would be more than a match for him as well. If Yosho hadn't told her to stay back, he would most likely already be dead. No, he was definitely in way over his head. If only he could control his own powers, there might have still been a chance, but unfortunately that wasn't an option.

Utilizing the resident power of this place seemed to be out of the question as well, since its flow had stopped the instant he had spotted the cave. Maybe it wasn't active during night time or something like that.

Suddenly he felt a strange warmth spreading through his entire body. He looked at Yosho, but the Juraian was still standing there, obviously waiting for him to make the next move. Carefully he risked a glance at Ayeka, only to find her still sitting in the same place, eying him with suspicion. The warmth turned to heat, his vision was clouded by a veil of white and he started to feel dizzy. He wanted to scream, but somehow his mind had been separated from his body, completely denying him control.

Then suddenly through the chaos the world had become, he heard a voice. Or rather he felt it, for there were no words spoken, but still an alien meaning entered his thoughts.

"Use your powers."

The same instant the words registered to his mind, there was a bright flash and his blood turned to fire. This time he did scream in agony. However, it lasted only a second until he felt something shatter inside of him and the fire went out instantly.

His vision cleared to reveal the shocked face of Yosho. At first he wondered at what had happened. He looked down at himself, but fortunately he seemed to be the same as before. Then it struck him. He could actually see the structure of the rock wall behind Yosho through the dark. He could hear the slightly quickened breath of Ayeka, revealing her nervousness and if he concentrated just a little, he could even smell her scent.

All his senses had sharpened incredibly. And not only that. He also felt their auras now. Of course he couldn't tell how strong they were, for he had no point of comparison, but he was surprised to find that Ayeka's seemed to be much more intense than that of her husband.

"What was that? What did you just do?" There was not a hint of his earlier arrogance left in Yosho's voice, he had completely lost his composure. "You can't possibly possess such power! I will show you!"

He brought up his arm and, before Tenchi had the chance to say anything, fired a concentrated energy blast at him. Standing too close to Yosho, Tenchi realized that he wouldn't be able to avoid it. As he readied himself for the impact, a strange power suddenly started to flow through his body. He had never experienced something like it and yet it felt somehow familiar. The blast hit him right in the chest with such force that he was almost knocked from his feet. But strangely there was no pain. Tenchi looked down, expecting to find a terrible wound that would kill him in a matter of seconds, but there was nothing. He was completely unharmed, not even his clothing had been scorched. Instead he was surrounded by a faintly glowing veil of blue light.

Yosho screamed in rage. "Damn it! Just die already!"

He threw himself forward in a terrible charge, driven by madness. But Tenchi parried his attack, finding it much easier to keep up with his speed now. However, his opponent still held a significant advantage in strength over him and his desperation granted him additional power. Realizing this, Yosho pressed his attack. Again and again the blades clashed and Tenchi had to use all his skill and speed in order to deflect the dreadful swipes aimed at him. He was tiring quickly and knew that if he wanted to win this fight he had to do something soon.

He deflected another attack and kicked out hitting Yosho right in the stomach. The other man doubled over and Tenchi slammed the hilt of his sword over his head with all his might. Yosho grunted and fell forward.

But Tenchi got no chance to savor his victory. Something struck him in the side with brutal force, hurling him from his feet and through the air. He hit the ground hard and rolled over a couple of times until he finally struck the rock wall of the cave painfully.

He was momentarily dazed and almost lost consciousness for a second, but somehow he managed to fight it down. When his senses cleared a little, the first thing he realized was that he was aching all over. It almost felt as if every bone in his body had been smashed to shards.

However, trying his best to ignore the pain he managed to push himself up into a half sitting position with great effort. Gritting his teeth he quickly checked himself for injuries and was surprised to find that he seemed externally unharmed. In the place where he had been struck, probably by an energy blast, his clothes had been scorched a little, but there wasn't any wound. He must have thrown up his shield by instinct, protecting himself.

He heard the sound of approaching steps and raised his head to find Ayeka standing over him, an unreadable expression on her face.

"You are Yuro, aren't you?" she asked.

There was no point in hiding the truth any longer, so Tenchi just nodded.

"I don't know how this is possible and truth to tell I don't really care." Her voice was even, but the fire that flickered alive in her eyes betrayed her true emotions. "What I do not understand is why you are here. If you survived back then and spent your live in exile somewhere, you could have returned at any time to claim your right as heir to the throne. But you did not. Or, if you weren't interested in the throne, you could have just lived out your life in exile somewhere. But you didn't do that either. Instead you came here to find your death trying to stop us. Why?"

Tenchi searched himself for the answer and finally found it in his heart.

"Because... I promised... my mother," he managed to say despite the pain.

For a moment the fire of anger vanished from Ayeka's eyes and all the barriers she had erected over the years broke away, allowing a glimpse of her true soul. There was sadness there and terrible loneliness.

"Mother..." she mumbled absently.

Then as suddenly as it had gone out, the flame of anger returned.

"You owed her nothing. She will probably not even care for your death, just like back then, when I threw you into the river." A dark smile came to her face. "Isn't it an irony, that now after all those years you will finally die at my hand after all?" She laughed, a high and unpleasant sound. "Farewell."

She raised both her hands in front of her and released a barrage of energy blasts. Completely unable to avoid the attack, Tenchi did the only thing that was left to him and employed his shield, which he had somewhat gotten used to by now.

The first blast struck and he was almost pushed back to the ground by the force of the impact, but he gritted his teeth against the pain still coursing through his body and steadied himself. Another blast struck, then another and another. It went on and on, each blow causing a fresh wave of pain and eating away at his powers. He could already feel his grip on the shield slipping and if that was to happen, he would be incinerated within seconds. Driven by the thought he mobilized all his reserves, tried to access more of the secret power that had lain dormant for so long. And it actually worked, with an astounding effect. The pale blue glow of his shield grew stronger, until it brightly illuminated his immediate surroundings and at the same time he felt his physical vigor renewed. The fury of Ayeka's attack increased even more, but he barely felt it now. Maybe, if he could draw just a little more power...

Then it was over. The barrage stopped so suddenly, that he didn't even notice at first. He looked up to see what had caused Ayeka to stop firing and gasped. His sister was lying in a heap at the ground and in her place stood the one person he would have last expected to see here.

"Ryoko!" Considering the storm of thoughts and emotions raging inside his head, he was surprised to still find something even vaguely resembling calmness in his voice.

She grinned at him, obviously pleased with her entrance.

"Yup, that's me. Hope I didn't interrupt something here. You two seemed... rather close," she said with a wink.

Tenchi decided to ignore her remark and just ask the most important question that was on his mind. "What are you doing here?"

The grin vanished from the pirate's face, though she retained a smile as she answered. "That's a long story. I'll tell you later, right now we don't have time."

Now he was really confused. "But the two of them are..." He gestured at the still form of Ayeka and was suddenly gripped by a cold fright. "... is she dead?" he asked hesitantly.

Ryoko's smile disappeared completely at the question and her look hardened.

"No, but she will sleep a while," she said coldly.

"That's good," he said, suppressing a sigh of relief. "But then there's no need to hurry. We stopped them. It's over."

"No, it's not. But I will explain to you later. Right now we need to open the door."

Suddenly a nagging doubt surfaced in the ocean of confusion that was Tenchi's mind.

"Wait a second. How do I know I can trust you?" he gave way to his thoughts.

Ryoko didn't answer and just looked at him instead. There was something in her eyes that words could never express, something calling out to him and whereas his mind remained doubtful, he could feel his heart answering the call. A wave of warmth swept through his body, chasing away all that was left of the pain and fatigue. It filled up his soul, soothed the confusion in his mind... and finally he gave up his resistance and just relished in the feeling. A soft smile came to his face.

Never breaking eye contact with the pirate he shifted his position on the ground in order to get up. Realizing his intention, Ryoko stepped in close and offered a hand. He took it without hesitation and the warm feeling increased even more with the contact. A short awkward moment passed, then he finally looked away and pulled himself up. Luckily, his blush remained hidden by the darkness.

"So how do we open it?" Ryoko looked puzzled. "The door."

"Oh, yeah... I don't know exactly, but I think you are the one who needs to open it." She thought for a moment. "... it might have something to do with your powers."

'She knows,' he thought. 'Has she known all the time? Or maybe she has just drawn the right conclusions from what she has seen so far...' He hoped that the latter was the case, but decided that it didn't matter for now. He would probably find out soon enough.

"Okay, I will give it a try," he said, his tone making it obvious just how much he believed in his chances of success.

He approached the door and stopped directly in front of it. Carefully he scanned the surface, but other than the faded relief there didn't seem to be any distinguishing features. Feeling more than a little silly, he reached out and pushed at the door with both his hands. Nothing happened. The door was made of solid stone and it didn't even budge under his efforts.

But then, as he was just about to give up and withdraw his hands, a blinding light suddenly exploded from the door.

* * *

He was woken by a blinding flash of light that only served to make the throbbing pain in his head even worse. For a moment he didn't know where or who he was, but then, as the light receded, it all came back to him. He had been beaten by the boy, who really was a Juraian royal in disguise, of that there was no doubt. Probably an assassin sent by the emperor himself. And in his exhilaration at the prospect of being so close to the ultimate power, Yosho had fallen for his scheme.

He tried to rise, but it was difficult, because every little movement made his head hurt like hell and to top it off his muscles seemed to have turned to jelly. With annoying slowness he finally managed to push himself up on his elbows. There was no trace of Ayeka, but instead something else instantly caught his eye.

The door was gone. Where it had been there was now a gaping hole in the wall of stone, illuminated by a strange glow that seemed to be coming from inside. Standing directly in front of the opening was the boy and a little distance to his right was a woman Yosho couldn't make out clearly in the darkness. But it was definitely not Ayeka.

It took him a moment to absorb the meaning of the situation until he finally realized that this was his chance. If he aimed it correctly he should be able to take out the boy in a single attack. Then he would deal with the woman and finally enter the sanctuary to gain the power of Tsunami.

The prospect enabled him to mobilize his last reserves, sit up on his knees and finally rise to his feet. He felt like his skull was about to burst from the pain, but he suppressed it and tried to focus his power. It was hard but he would be able to muster up enough energy for one lethal attack. It needed to be well placed, for he wouldn't get a second chance.

He managed some shaky steps, until he was satisfied with the distance. Still far enough to be hidden by the darkness, but close enough to take good aim. He extended his hand in the direction of the boy and, aiming directly at his head, started to summon energy to his palm. Right then his mind exploded in agony.

'YOU SERVED YOUR PURPOSE.'

The pain made Yosho collapse to his knees. He wanted to clutch his head, but much to his terror his hands wouldn't move as he willed them to. And he couldn't stop the power flowing into his palm. Then, ever so slowly, his right hand left the ground, where he had placed it to support himself and turned towards his face. He felt the cold sweat on his forehead as he tried to fight it, desperately tried to interrupt the flow of power, but without success.

His scream echoed through the night for a long time.

* * *

"I actually did it...," Tenchi whispered to himself.

Where there had just been a door of massive stone, there was now the gaping entrance to a tunnel. The walls of the passage almost seemed to pulse with some sort of dark glow, providing a faint illumination and judging from what he could see the tunnel had to be long.

"So she was actually telling the truth," he heard Ryoko's voice behind him.

Tenchi tore his gaze from the infinite hole of darkness and turned around to face her.

"Who?" he asked, hoping to finally get some answers.

"Washu. She was the one who told me what's really sleeping down there." She pointed at the tunnel behind Tenchi.

"Washu? You mean the scientist Washu? What does she have to do with this and what do you mean what's really sleeping down there." A shiver ran down his spine as he voiced the words and suddenly he wasn't so sure anymore, if he really wanted to hear the answer.

"I will explain to you on the way. If the rest of Washu's story is true as well, we have to hurry."

Tenchi was about to argue, but he was cut short by a blood-curdling scream from the darkness.

"What was that?" he asked, failing to hide the fear from his voice.

"Don't know. Let's check it out."

With that she turned and slowly walked off into the direction the scream had come from. Reluctantly Tenchi followed.

As the darkness grew more and more substantial around them, Ryoko activated her energy sword to provide some lighting. The sight that was revealed by the pale red glow made Tenchi gasp in horror. Lying there on the ground was Yosho. Or at least he guessed that it was the Juraian prince from what was left of him. Most of his head had been scattered all over the ground.

"My god! What happened to him!" Tenchi asked, feeling sick all of a sudden.

"Seems like he killed himself. Look at his hand."

He did as he was told and instantly caught her meaning. Yosho's right hand had merged with the mutilated remains of his head where it was lying. It almost looked like he had punched away his own skull. With a sound of disgust, Tenchi turned away.

"Why would he do this to himself?" He realized that he was shaking.

"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about this. We better hurry."

Tenchi just nodded without facing her. He wasn't in the mood to protest anymore. All he wanted right now was to get as far away from this place as possible, even if it meant to enter an infinite hole of darkness.

* * *

"Any news from the Tayson or the Estar?" Kunrin turned towards his communication officer.

The middle aged Juraian nodded briefly and looked up from his console to face the preceptor. "The report from the Estar just came in," he said in a deep, pleasant voice. "Captain Zeidan has finished exploring the outer regions of the system. No unusual activity there. He is awaiting your orders."

Kunrin nodded not really satisfied and looked at the front screen. There were only a few planets in the Gemina system, most of them uninhabited and none of them of any use to the empire. To get a clue as to why the emperor had ordered his fleet here, he had sent out his two fastest war cruisers, each together with twenty smaller ships. However, it seemed like there hadn't been any success in their mission so far.

He straightened in his seat and was about to order Zeidan to stay near the third planet when the communication officer spoke up again.

"Sir, there's an incoming transmission from the Tayson. It's Capain Larin."

"Well, let's hear if she has something to report," Kunrin responded, not really believing that she would.

The front screen flickered and a bridge similar to one of the flagship Desory but smaller in size was shown. In the center of the screen a red haired woman stood in front of a seat like the one Kunrin was using. Her voice trembled with excitement as she spoke.

"Preceptor, we have discovered a planet that does not appear on any of our maps."

"A planet?" Kunrin stood slowly.

It was most unlikely that in a system not too far from the Juraian home world there would be an unmapped planet. Although there were no trade routes running through Gemina, Juraian thoroughness required a complete mapping of the system. Maybe the captain had taken a huge asteroid for a planet.

"Are you sure it's a planet? What size? Inhabited? Transmit the data."

"We are sure, sir," Larin replied instantly. "We've double checked the data and even ran a sensor check. The planet seems to be roughly the size of Jurai and it's surrounded by some kind of nebula, which is causing problems with our sensors. We are getting no answer to our calls, so either the nebula is interfering with our signal as well or there is nobody down there."

Not bothering to say anything in response, Kunrin turned right and addressed a young man who was hastily typing away at his panel. "Is she right?"

"Yes, sir. The planet's revolution around Gemina is unusually slow, but has an axial spin almost two times as fast as Jurai," the young man answered without halting his fingers or even looking at the preceptor.

"Put a picture on the front screen." Kunrin ordered. His curiosity had definitely been peaked.

Seconds later the slightly annoyed face of Larin was replaced with the picture recorded by the Tayson.

Although he hadn't expected much, Kunrin was still a little disappointed. There was little to see except a dark nebula shimmering in shades of grey in the middle of the screen. He had seen a lot of nebula and this one didn't appear any different, despite the planet that was supposed to be hidden within. Kunrin's head tilted slightly at the thought. Maybe there was a connection between this mysterious planet and their presence here. Perhaps it held a secret the emperor did not wish to share? Especially not with the person in possession of the Holy Book.

"I've seen enough. Give me Captain Larin again," he said after he had stared at the nebula for several seconds.

The nebula disappeared and Larin reappeared. Obviously she hadn't moved in the meantime but the irritation was now clearly visible on her face │Ea fact that amused Kunrin.

"Tayson, we are meeting at your current coordinates. Run further scans until our arrival."

"Preceptor..." Although her eyes sparkled with anger, Larin's voice was firm. "... if we were to enter the nebula the results of our scans would improve a lot."

"I know." Kunrin smiled. "But you are not to approach the planet any further. It might be dangerous in there and I don't want to see one of my best ships destroyed just because its captain acted on impatience. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," Larin grumbled and the connection was closed.

"Well then," Kunrin spoke up, addressing everyone. "... we don't want to let the impatient captain wait too long. Transmit the coordinates to the other ships and tell the Estar to meet us there. How long at full speed?"

"Ten minutes," came the instant reply from one of the officers.

"Sir, do you want me to contact Jurai?" the communication officer asked.

Kunrin gave him a dark glance. "No. Not yet. There's no need to bother the emperor by informing him about every movement of the fleet."

Kunrin sat down and watched the stars sliding past on the screen as the Desory accelerated. He was curious as to what made this planet so valuable that the emperor had ordered an entire fleet to its defense. It seemed like he was going to be the first to discover the royal secret. But he had to wait and see if this was a good thing.

Such thoughts kept him busy until the shapes of Zeidan's ships appeared on the screen, growing in size every minute.

"Sir, the Estar has arrived at the coordinates."

"I can see..." Kunrin interrupted his harsh reply when it suddenly went dark and silent on the bridge. A moment later the lights went on again and the characteristic buzz of the bridge returned.

"What was that?" the preceptor asked no one in particular and so no one answered at first. But finally an engineer took his chances.

"Must have been some kind of system instability, sir."

Before Kunrin could voice his doubt, the communication officer spoke up. "If it was a system instability, then it must have been triggered by something coming from the planet, since Captain Zedan as well as Captain Larin have experienced similar failures just a few milliseconds before our systems went down."

"Well then, we will investigate the planet and send a report to the emperor if we experience any further troubles," Kunrin decided and leant back.

This was definitely starting to get interesting.

* * *

Ryoko stepped out of the tunnel and stopped. The sight that revealed itself to her was awe inspiring. There was no doubt that she was looking upon the inner sanctuary, a huge cavern that easily provided enough space for a ship the size of the Souja to fit in. However, much more impressive than the size were the walls of the cave. They weren't natural, as one would expect with a room of such dimensions, but actually marbled with bright white stones. And as if that alone wasn't enough, the stones also had a strange glow to them. It almost seemed like they were sparkling in all colors of the rainbow, creating an illusion of movement.

There were three other tunnels, one opposite and two at right angles with the one they had entered through. Each of them was connected to a stone walkway, which appeared to be suspended in mid-air and in turn connected directly to the center of the room, a circular platform of about 50 feet in diameter.

Wondering why someone would build such a strange construction into a cavern, Ryoko walked over to the edge of the pathway, which was bordered by a low railing of the same material as the walls. She leaned over and found herself gazing at a sparkling surface. About 10 feet below them was a subterranean sea. The pirate could only stare in awe. The water │Eif it actually was water │Ewas clear to a degree she had never seen before and it was sparkling in a rainbow of colors. It was impossible to locate the source of the glow, since it seemed to be coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. However, she realized now that the moving colors on the walls were actually only projections of the water surface.

The sound of steps behind her shook her out of the reverie induced by the sight. She turned around to see Tenchi walking past her, his eyes directed at the circular platform in the center.

By now she was more than a little worried about his strange behavior. During their long descent through the tunnel he had spoken little as she had related the whole story to him. Back then she had thought that maybe his indifference was just some kind of aftershock of the battle and the gruesome sight of the mutilated corpse. And besides, she knew from experience that the story wasn't of the kind to induce a vigorous reaction.

But even after she had finished Tenchi hadn't spoken a word. No questions, no expression of disbelief, no affirmation, just silence. She had been about to say something, when a brighter light had suddenly mixed into the dim glow of the tunnel in front of them and Tenchi had quickened his pace, forcing her to do the same in order to keep up with him. She had asked him what was wrong, but his only answer was, "We are getting closer." The words and the way he spoke them had sent a shiver travelling down her spine.

Even now the uneasy feeling was still there, almost like a dark presence lingering in the air all around them. It reminded her of the strange surging of spiritual power she had felt for some time back on the surface.

Ryoko shook her head, trying to push the odd feeling back into the corner of her mind where it belonged. Meanwhile, Tenchi had reached the platform and was now approaching the center of the circle. She was about to call out to him, but then thought better of it and just teleported right in front of him.

"Where do you think you're going?" She didn't bother to hide the agitation in her voice.

"It's right there." He pointed at the ground behind her.

Ryoko turned around to see what he was talking about and found herself looking at a strange design of interwoven lines which seemed to cover over half of the platform. There was no visible pattern to it, other than the fact that all the lines seemed to be connected to another and the closer they got to the center the closer they seemed to draw together until they finally flowed into a single circular line at the very center of the platform. The space inside the circle, which measured no more than 2 feet in diameter, remained completely untouched.

Although the arrangement appeared to be completely random to the pirate, she instinctively knew that it had a hidden meaning. She could almost feel the silent power radiating from those ancient runes.

"What is this?" she mumbled more to herself than to Tenchi.

"The seal," he stated matter-of-factly and brushed past her.

Not having expected a reply, Ryoko looked up and was surprised to find Tenchi striding purposefully towards the circle at the center. It was then that she realized she had been wrong. His strange behavior wasn't caused by any aftershock. There was something else affecting him and it had started shortly after they had entered the tunnel. She didn't like this one bit, but then again, Washu hadn't mentioned anything of exactly how Tenchi was going to restore the seal. Maybe he was supposed to behave that way.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" she asked as he positioned himself at the center of the small circle.

He just nodded and closed his eyes.

Ryoko decided that now it was her turn to trust him. After all he still seemed to be aware of his actions. For now she would just wait and see what was going to happen.

At first nothing happened. Tenchi stood in the middle of the platform, eyes closed, his face expressionless. Then, after a while, Ryoko got the vague impression that something was changing about him. It took her at least another minute to realize exactly what it was. His form was starting to emit a pale glow, which was getting brighter by the second.

The power in the room started to shift. It was like something invisible, something ancient had been stirred. Ryoko felt an irrational fear growing inside of her, making her want to run from the room, to get as far away from this place as possible.

Angered by the emotion, she fought it down and watched on. The odd glow had started to spread from Tenchi's feet to the lines on the ground. Quickly the light travelled along the lines and spread outwards over the entire design. Soon all the runes on the ground were glowing like they had been drawn by light.

By now Ryoko was feeling really uncomfortable. At the sight of the glowing circle the fear was getting worse and she was having a hard time controlling it. All her senses were screaming danger. There was something definitely wrong here.

The light emanating from Tenchi and the circle was still increasing in intensity and suddenly the ground started shaking. Ryoko was almost thrown off her feet by the sudden tremor, but she managed to restore her balance simply by levitating a little ways above the ground.

Then, for a second, she felt it. The awareness behind the dark presence she had felt since they had first entered the room. A consciousness so ancient that her mind refused to grasp the concept. And it was rejoicing with delight. Though it was just a short flash of emotion, the power of the feeling was enough to make Ryoko's head spin. It took her a moment to recover her senses and when she did, she knew what was going on. Whatever Tenchi was doing, she needed to stop him.

The light was blindingly bright now, the tremors were getting even worse and the urge to flee was overwhelming. Nevertheless, Ryoko's eyes sought out Tenchi. He was still standing right at the center of the circle, apparently unfazed by the quakes, only his eyes were wide open now. Looking at them Ryoko realized that she would be too late.

"Tenchi! Noooo!"

She tried to teleport over to him, but there was a blinding flash of light, followed by a shockwave that sent her flinging through the air until she hit the ground with terrible force. For a second she lost consciousness and as her vision finally cleared, the light was gone. The tremors had stopped as well and with the strength returning to her limbs she pushed herself up and scanned her surroundings.

Obviously she had been carried back to the outer perimeter of the platform by the shockwave. Another meter and she would have dropped into the water. Tenchi was lying on the ground right in the center, probably unconscious, maybe worse. Ryoko felt an entirely different kind of fear swelling in her heart, but her sight was quickly drawn to something else.

As she realized what she was gazing upon, she gasped and, her legs suddenly threatening to give out under her, almost fell back to her knees. Standing there, right behind the unmoving form of Tenchi, was a woman. Her hair was of a color similar to her own, just a little darker and, tied together in two long strands at shoulder height, it fell down her back, reaching all the way to the ground. She was wearing a flowing white robe, which reminded a lot of the traditional robes of Jurai, only that it seemed much lighter. Her eyes were closed and her face bore an expression of serenity like Ryoko had never seen it before.

She knew instinctively who she was facing. The supreme goddess of the most powerful empire in the galaxy.

"Tsunami," she murmured.

The goddess opened her eyes and the illusion of serenity shattered. In those bright red eyes there was an infinite sadness.

It seemed as if she was about to say something, but she never got the chance. A black globe suddenly appeared out of nowhere above her head and quickly widened into a swirling vortex of darkness, which then fell down over the goddess, swallowing her whole. As the vortex hit the ground where Tsunami had been standing, there was no trace left of her.

Ryoko had no idea what was going on, but she decided that whatever it was, she didn't like it. The pool of darkness didn't disappear but instead swept up from its position on the ground into a vertical position, where it shifted and twisted until its size and shape somewhat reminded of one of Washu's portals.

A sudden sense of dread washed over the pirate, leaving her with the distinct feeling that if something was going to come out of there, she certainly wasn't going to like it. Only then did she realize that Tenchi was still lying on the ground directly in front of the thing. She cursed inwardly and summoned her energy sword.

Just as she was about to phase over and get him to safety, a deep chuckle made her freeze. Her eyes remained on the portal where the sound had originated. Then, without warning, her mind was assaulted by an incredible power. It was by no means a pleasant feeling, and yet it was somehow familiar. The chuckling came again and this time it turned into a dark laughter that made Ryoko shudder involuntarily.

"Finally, after all those years, Tsunami is mine!" a booming voice rang out after the laughter had died down and a man stepped out of the portal, his piercing yellow eyes still holding an expression of sinister delight.

"Shade," Ryoko whispered.

* * *

Chapter notes:

For this chapter, the two scenes revolving around Kagato as well as the one with Kunrin have been written by my sister. I did the long scene with Tenchi and the chapter's final scene. The one with Ayeka and Yosho was written by my sister and me on equal parts.

As you might have already guessed, the next chapter is going to be the last one and if everything goes as planned you should be in for quite a ride with it.

Now, as usual, I want to thank Geor-sama for working extra fast in order to smooth things out some more.

See you in the last chapter.


	17. Looming Darkness

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of their original creators and all those affiliated with them. I have neither created them, nor do I own them. Any new characters as well as the events within this story are created by me and my sister, so they are our property. This story is written for fun and as an homage to the world of Tenchi.

* * *

Chapter 16 - Looming Darkness

"Order the fleet to spread out around the planet. I want them to give notice if any ship enters the system. Three frigates are to follow us." Kunrin returned his attention to the front screen. The deep gray nebula in front of them made it impossible to get even the slightest glimpse of the mysteries that might be hidden within. But that was about to change.

"Half speed," he ordered.

The helmsmen did as they were told and slowly the Desory started to accelerate once more. Silence fell on the bridge, as the huge ship moved to penetrate the nebula. At first only thin layers of dust clouded the bright stars, but quickly it grew more substantial, until it finally hid them completely.

'Like the fog over the dead plains of Sasetia,' Kunrin thought. Everything that was engulfed by the fog was condemned to death. He felt an unpleasant emotion rising up from deep inside him. To banish the unwanted thoughts crossing his mind, he stood from his chair in a swift, yet elegant motion.

"So now that we have entered the nebula..." he said calmly into the silence. "... any new data from the planet?"

"Just a second, sir," someone answered behind him.

And while the officer obviously started a new scan, Kunrin tried to look through the thick gray dust to catch a glimpse of the mysterious planet. By now it should have been right in front of them and yet he couldn't see anything.

"Sir, we obtain data, but there are still strong interferences. We have to make more scans in order to get a clear result."

"What about civilization or industry?" Kunrin asked turning away from the screen towards the young officer.

For a few seconds the man stared at the readings, then he shook his head. "Nothing for certain yet, sir."

Hiding his disappointment Kunrin nodded and took his seat again. "Take us another 50000 kilometers closer to the planet and continue the scans," he ordered.

Ghostly wisps moved on the screen when the Desory penetrated even deeper into the nebula. Strangely it seemed to grow more substantial the closer they got to the planet.

Not a word was spoken on the bridge. Only the sound of the running computers filled the air, accompanied by the low rhythm of the engines below.

But there was something else. Kunrin bend his head and listened. He tried to ignore the sound of the men working at their stations and concentrated on the sound of the engines. A low and rhythmic reverberation. There seemed to be nothing unusual and Kunrin was about to ascribe it to his overactive imagination, when he heard it again. A short sound barely hearable, like something scratching on the hull of the ship. He stared at the front screen, disbelief and shock mixing on his face.

"Is there... something outside in this nebula other than us?" Realizing that his voice was lacking a little of its usual firmness, Kunrin cleared his throat and added angrily. "I mean, have you scanned the nebula? What does it consist of anyway?"

"Hydrogen, helium, carbondioxid, iron. Nothing unusual, sir."

Kunrin nodded and relaxed. "What about the planet?"

"The results need further confirmation, but it doesn't seem to be inhabited. No cities, no industry, no life signs so far, just a lot of ruins." The young officer took a deep breath and fell silent.

"Strange," Kunrin stated. There had to be something down there. Something that made the planet so valuable to the empire of Jurai, that half the fleet had been ordered here. But any kind of facility needed personnel, even if it were just a handful of scientists working in some secret research lab. It was very unlikely that there was not a trace of life on the planet.

"Do we detect any hint of a sensor barrier or a cloaking device?"

"No, captain. There is some kind of energy output, but..."

"What?" Kunrin rose and turned around to meet the confused gaze of the officer.

"... the origin of the energy we detect is not the planet. It's all around us. It's the nebula."

Kunrin felt a cold shiver running down his spine. Reluctantly he turned around to gaze at the front screen. The grey wisps were still swirling as before, but there seemed to be something threatening in the movement now.

"That's hard to believe." The captain of the Desory calmed himself and smiled at his next thought. "Someone down there might be messing with our sensors. Maybe they haven't realized who we are." He gestured at his communication officer. "I will inform them."

When the old Juraian officer nodded, Kunrin leant back in his chair. Fixing the nebula in front of him he spoke. "This is Kunrin, first Preceptor of the Juraian Empire. I'm speaking on behalf of the Emperor himself, when I tell you to reveal yourself."

Tensed silence dominated the bridge once more. Kunrin himself just kept staring at the front screen. There was a good chance that nobody would answer. In this case his patience would come to an end. He would request permission to... There was the sound again. Kunrin's head jerked as he heard it, louder than before.

A low murmur spread around the bridge, making it obvious that this time the others had heard it as well. Then everyone became silent again, as though waiting for the sound to repeat itself.

But it didn't. Suddenly the voice of the science officer broke the silence. "Sir, we detect four ships on the planet's surface. There is clear evidence that at least one of them is a tree-ship. Another one might be the Souja."

Kunrin took a deep breath. This was worse.

After aborting the search for Kagato and Ryoko, the fleet had moved around in the Gemina system, keeping a lookout for any unusual activity like the emperor had ordered. And all the time the space pirates had been hiding on that unmapped planet. The emperor must have known their destination.

"Call Jurai, I want to speak to the emperor himself."

After all these hide and seek games they had finally found the pirates. But Kunrin doubted that the information about their whereabouts would please the emperor.

"Sir, I'm unable to make contact with Jurai," the deep voice of the communication officer declared.

"The energy emitted by the nebula probably interferes with the signal," a female officer suggested.

Kunrin gave the old man at the communication panel a dark look. "Try to hail the Estar."

The man did like he was ordered. Seconds later he shook his head. "I'm not getting through, not even to our own frigates."

An angry sound escaped Kunrin's throat. "Well, they will realize that we are going to move out again. Take us away from the planet at full speed until we are able to contact Jurai again. We've already wasted enough time."

Kunrin leant back. Staring at the gray commotion on the screen, he thought about a few questions he would ask Azusa. But his mind returned to the bridge quite quickly, when he noticed that nothing was happening at all.

"Haven't I made myself clear?" He asked crossly. "I told you to move the ship out of this nebula."

"We got the order," replied one of the helmsmen calmly. "It's just that our drive looses power the moment we charge it. I can't see why, but it might be associated with the energy radiating from outside."

Kunrin stood and glared at his men. "And what kind of mystic energy should that be?" Everyone fell silent at once. "We moved into it without any effort, haven't we? Then how can it be impossible to move out again?"

He walked over to the screens of the science station, on which the streams of incoming data were displayed and addressed the officer sitting in front of them. "You told me there was nothing unusual about the composition of that nebula." The man just nodded and pointed at the figures on the display. But just as he was going to start an explanation, he was interrupted by a sudden shout.

Loosing the last of his temper at such behavior, Kunrin spun around and barked at the shouter. "What now?"

The man's eyes were fixed at the front screen. "I..." He cleared his throat noisily, "I thought I saw something moving out there."

Kunrin turned to look at the screen. For a heartbeat he feared that the man was right. But of course he wasn't. "There's nothing there," he stated the obvious. "Better use your imagination to solve the problem of how we are going to..."

The ship was shaken by an impact, that almost made Kunrin fall over.

"What was that?" He asked, when he had regained his balance. "Did one of the frigates ram us?"

"No sir. I... I have no idea what hit us. Our ships are at a safe distance and there's nothing else nearby."

"Well, we can't fight an invisible enemy." Kunrin wanted it to sound sarcastic, but his infirm voice made the words a statement. The members of the crew who hadn't done so yet turned their attention away from the readings on their screens and looked at their captain. It wasn't difficult to see the traces of fear in some of their faces, a fact that didn't please Kunrin.

"Find a way to move the ship out of this nebula." He ordered and made his way back to his seat. The emperor had to be informed about the ships they had discovered on the planet's surface as fast as possible. If he didn't manage to make contact soon, it would definitely fall back on Kunrin himself. Thinking on the possible consequences made his spirits sink.

* * *

Ryoko felt her mouth go dry and perspiration started to gather on her brow. She was having trouble thinking straight. His appearance was the last piece of the puzzle of what had just happened, so much she knew, but an unseen force kept her from putting it all together.

"Shade..." He spoke slowly, as if to get familiar with the sound of the word. "So that's how you call me now... interesting."

It took almost all of Ryoko's strength just to hold his gaze. The thought of speaking to him was ridiculous and yet there was one question in her mind that burned above all the others. The worry it caused her drove away some of Shade's dark influence and she eagerly allowed anger to take its place.

"What did you do to Tenchi?" Her voice was shaking with both anxiety and anger.

An expression of slight surprise registered on his face, obviously he had not expected her to talk back to him so fiercely, but it quickly turned into amusement.

"I did nothing to him. But maybe you want to ask what he did for me." He chuckled again, a sound that made Ryoko shudder inwardly. "The boy just woke the ancient goddess Tsunami. After all those years he was the one to finally allow me to make her mine."

Though she had already seen Tsunami and instinctively known the implications, Ryoko was still shocked at the revelation. The seal had been broken and if the goddess Tokimi really existed, she was free to unleash chaos upon the world now. But what was even worse was that Tenchi had been the one to do it.

"No..." Suddenly unable to hold his gaze any longer, the pirate lowered her eyes. They came to rest upon the lifeless form of Tenchi. Lying there on his back, his head turned slightly to the side, he was the epitome of serenity. Had he sold the universe to a madman? Looking at his face, Ryoko knew the answer and she felt her anger rise again, anger at the one who had done this to him.

"He would never do something like that!"

"Is that so? In fact, I found it surprisingly easy to implant the necessary ideas into his subconscious. I guess that's the curse of such an unadulterated mind."

For a moment the pirate didn't know what he was talking about, but then, all of a sudden, everything fell into place. Shade's ship still waiting at the same coordinates where he had met with her even after she had spent many days in prison, the terrible machine Tenchi had been connected to and finally their easy escape.

"That's right. I needed you to rescue him, so he wouldn't get too suspicious. Or did you really think that you would have been able to leave my ship if I didn't want you to?"

He was right, back then the logical part of her mind had realized that he let them escape and that he was probably plotting something, but the worry about Tenchi's well-being had made her deny the truth and later she had simply forgotten about it.

"Damn!" she cursed her own carelessness.

"Yes, actually I need to thank you. Disposing of the girl would have proved somewhat more difficult than it did for Yosho. But you took good care of that little problem for me."

"You were the one who killed Yosho?" Ryoko didn't quite succeed to hide her surprise.

"Of course. He would never have been able to open the door, not to speak of waking Tsunami. No, he was nothing but a failed experiment, a pawn to lure the boy into coming here of his own free will." He smiled, a gesture that seemed to make him lose even the last of his humanity. "And he perfectly served his purpose, just like you."

"Damn you!" Unleashing her anger, the pirate shook off some of his mental influence and charged at him in blind rage.

Shade made no move to defend himself or avoid the attack. He just stood there, waiting calmly for Ryoko's sword to slash through his body. But it never did. Where the blade should have torn through clothes and flesh it met only thin air, making the pirate almost lose her balance. He had disappeared.

Ryoko was baffled. She could have sworn that he had still been there as her sword hacked home. It didn't feel like he had teleported and yet he was gone.

"Now, now, no reason to lose your temper like this." It was almost possible to hear that creepy smile in his voice, which seemed to be coming from everywhere at once.

Ryoko whirled around, ready to attack again, but there was no one there.

"From a certain perspective you should even be grateful. In the end I gave you the chance to redeem yourself after all those years. I gave a purpose to your wretched existence."

Knowing that he just wanted to make her lose her focus, she tried to shut out his voice. But it was impossible. It seemed like he was talking directly inside of her head.

"Yes, you are a failure, just like Yosho. There was only one reason for your existence, which you denied."

"Shut up!"

"But don't you want to know why you were created and maybe even more importantly by whom?"

"How the heck would you know?" Ryoko shouted furiously, though she couldn't help to feel a treacherous peak of curiosity.

"Oh, I know. After all I was the one who studied under your..." He made a short pause, as if searching for the right word and when he finally spoke it, he made it sound like an insult. "... mother for a much longer time than you have lived. I know her and even though I wasn't there at that time anymore, I know that she created you and why."

"What are you talking about? You are not making any sense."

"But I do and you know it. It's just that you don't want to accept the truth," his voice suddenly came from behind her.

The pirate spun around without a second thought, her sword lashing out. But the attack was blocked by a green energy blade only inches from the face of her adversary. She was about to press on, but immediately felt her power draining away under his piercing gaze. Reluctantly she retreated a few steps, trying to maintain the focus on her anger. Shade didn't follow her.

"Have you never wondered why the infamous scientist Washu, whose existence wasn't even officially confirmed, started dealing with you, a lowly space pirate, right from the beginning?"

Mustering up what was left of her strength, Ryoko formed an energy ball and threw it at him. It was deflected to the side by a seemingly effortless movement of his hand.

"It is because she wanted to keep an eye on your development. On the development of her creation." He chuckled suddenly, as if he just made a special joke that only he could understand. "That's just like her. She was never able to completely write off a project, even when it had obviously failed."

"You lie!" Ryoko screamed, trying to shut out the logic behind his words and her growing confusion.

She fired another energy blast, which was easily deflected by Shade as well. Then he raised his hand and before the pirate had a chance to react, an incredible force hit her, tearing her from her feet. She was thrown through the air, too stunned by the impact to make use of her levitation ability, and painfully hit the ground near the edge of the center platform.

"I have no reason to lie to you." She heard his voice getting closer, but with her power all but gone, was unable to rise. "You are no more than a tool to be used if the need arises and to be discarded once you served your purpose. Why is it that you are here? Did Washu send you to do the dirty work for her?" He laughed, his voice devoid of any humor. "Pitiful."

Ryoko pushed herself up with some effort, to find him towering directly in front of her. A strange mist seemed to be obscuring her mind. But there was one thought which the dark clouds failed to swallow and she clung to it desperately.

"I came here to help Tenchi, not because Washu told me to." The words sounded defensive and frail, for which she hated herself.

"And why do you think would he want any help from a creature like you? Even to him you are nothing more than a tool to achieve his ends. He only arranged your escape from the GSP because he needed you to recover the Holy Book and even though you were well aware of that, you helped him. That's what you always do - carry out jobs for other people. That's what you were born to do."

"Shut up!" Ryoko could feel her inner resistance crumbling under his powerful mental assault.

"I know you deluded yourself into thinking that the boy actually cared for you, but it is easy to see that this can't be true. After betraying your original purpose you willingly turned into a tool of terror and destruction. How could someone possibly care for a being like that. No, he always despised you - from the beginning to the very end."

"You are wrong."

The voice had originated somewhere behind Shade and before he had any chance to react the dark man was struck in the back by a blast of energy. The attack was powerful enough to tear him from his feet and send him over the rim of the platform. A loud splash finally marked the end of his flight.

But Ryoko barely took notice. Her attention was bound to the place where the dark portal had been. It was gone and her heart leapt at the sight of the person who had taken its place.

"Tenchi!" she cried, some of her vigor instantly restored.

He didn't answer immediately and only then the pirate noticed that he was breathing hard, his hand still extended and pointed at the spot where Shade had been standing. It seemed like he was fighting hard just to remain on his feet.

"Tenchi, are you alright?" She felt an edge of the terrible anxiety Shade had inspired in her returning to her voice as she spoke.

"I think so," Tenchi answered, much to her relief, and lowered his arm. For a moment it seemed like he was going to collapse, as the tension visibly fell away from him, but then he steadied himself. His gaze met hers and his brow creased into a slight frown. "What about you?"

"I'm fine," Ryoko was quick to answer. Judging by the expression on Tenchi's face she must have looked pitiful and she was furious with herself for letting him see her like this, but at the same time she was glad that he had come to her rescue. Two feelings from which she was drawing strength.

"That's good," he mumbled in response and slowly started to make his way over to where she had fallen. His movements were somewhat sluggish and by the expression on his face it seemed like he was struggling just to remain conscious. "Whatever... he told you..." He stopped to catch his breath. "... it wasn't true. I..."

"My what an unpleasant surprise," a terribly familiar voice suddenly boomed out of nowhere. "So you actually survived the feedback. I was quite certain that even a Juraian wouldn't be able to take it, much less did I expect that you would regain consciousness so fast. I'm impressed." The disembodied voice of Shade was so cold that Ryoko could almost feel the blood freezing in her veins. "But it's very... unfortunate that you chose to interfere right now."

"Where are you? Show yourself!" Tenchi shouted, his difficulties to keep the quavering out of his voice painfully obvious.

"Breaking the spirit of Washu's ultimate creation after releasing Tsunami would have been my final triumph."

The booming echo had suddenly reverted to something bearing more resemblance to a normal voice and as Ryoko turned her head to the left, Shade was standing there, between Tenchi and the edge of the platform. She could have sworn that he hadn't been there just a second ago.

"But now that you are awake, this might prove difficult." He shrugged. "You would have made for a fine specimen. It's a shame."

"I won't let you harm Ryoko," said Tenchi, his voice surprisingly firm all of a sudden.

"Well said." Shade clapped his hands twice in mockery. "But what makes you think that she even wants to be protected by you? Do you think a pirate dreaded throughout the galaxy would want a boy from a backwater planet to stand up for her?" He made a well measured pause before he continued. "No, you have always been a burden to her with your weakness and your constant preaching about right and wrong. The only reason she put up with you was because she knew you would help her to complete her objectives."

The words sounded ridiculous to Ryoko and she knew that Tenchi would realize that they weren't true. But he didn't. His determination visibly faltered and he almost seemed to stagger under Shade's verbal assault. And then the realization of what was happening struck her like a blow.

"Tenchi! Don't believe him! He's trying to mess with your mind!"

Tenchi winced and his head shot around to look at her, his face showing a mixture of confusion and shock. If there had been any doubt that Shade was trying to attack his mind, it was gone now.

She gave Tenchi a reassuring look and after a moment of obvious indecision, his expression started to change. The wordless exchange continued for another second and then, much to Ryoko's surprise, his lips suddenly curved into a smile. A most peculiar feeling of warmth spread through her body at the sight of it and she couldn't help to return the gesture.

At the very back of her mind, shoved away by this wonderful feeling, she knew that Shade wouldn't be able to harm them now. In those few seconds they had established a bond that transcended words.

"I see," the deep voice of Shade cut into her head like a knife. "Now who would have thought that the notorious space pirate and the ex-galaxy police officer actually do feel a connection to each other." He chuckled and this time there was something in his voice that hadn't been there before, but it was gone before she had a chance to grasp it.

"I guess it's not worth the effort to try and break it." He turned to look at Ryoko, sending a shiver down her spine, but nothing more. "As amusing as it would have been to see Washu's reaction to your shattered spirit, I can't waste any more time on you. After all I have an appointment with a goddess."

The words stirred a memory in Ryoko.

"What have you done with Tsunami?" she asked through clenched teeth, her anger returning full force together with the memory of the terrible calamity he might have brought upon them.

"She is waiting for me in a safe place, but that is nothing you need to concern yourself with, for you have reached the end of your journey."

"We will see about this," Tenchi said, as he took a battle stance.

"You think you can fight me?" He shrugged and reactivated his energy sword. "Well, bring it on, boy."

And Tenchi did. He attacked with a speed that Ryoko hadn't thought him capable of, instantly forcing Shade into the defensive. The pirate knew from her own experience that Shade wasn't really skilled with the sword, but even if he had been a much better fighter, Tenchi would have probably still been a match for him.

He moved with the practiced ease of an experienced fighter as he blocked and attacked, forcing his opponent back slowly, but relentlessly. Ryoko wondered what he had done to improve that much over such a short time. It couldn't have been just the discovery of his Jurai powers. They might be naturally good at it, but she seriously doubted that even a Juraian would be capable of such swordplay without proper training.

It didn't matter. Even if he defeated Shade, of which Ryoko had no doubt at the current rate, it would accomplish nothing. The dark man didn't deem it necessary to improve his swordsmanship for a reason. That was a lesson she had learned the painful way. He couldn't be defeated with an energy blade.

Unfortunately, Tenchi didn't know this and as she watched him fight, the pirate realized that he might be walking right into Shade's trap. She needed to help him.

With some difficulty she stood up completely and quickly pondered her options. If she shouted a warning to Tenchi, it might distract him and cost him his life. And she had no idea of how to explain the danger to him anyway. No, she needed to get over there, so she would be able to protect him if need be. For a moment she considered the idea of teleporting, but discarded it immediately. It would have been too dangerous to phase right into a heated battle.

She made a tentative step, to see if she had recovered enough for her feet to carry her weight, then another and finally broke into a run, summoning her energy sword on the way.

If she joined Tenchi in the fight, Shade wouldn't last a second and then he would be forced to play his trump card, whatever it was.

However, the dark man had obviously come to a similar conclusion, for he disappeared a second before Ryoko was able to join the battle. Just like before he didn't actually teleport away. He was simply gone from one moment to the next, throwing Tenchi off balance as his attack cut only thin air.

After he had regained his footing, Tenchi gave her a questioning look which she answered with a shrug. She wanted to add a warning to stay wary, but this was rendered unnecessary as Shade reappeared some distance in front of them at the edge of the platform.

But unfortunately it didn't stop there. He reappeared again to their right, then at the opposite end of the platform, then in the center. Finally Ryoko counted five Shades covering almost the entire platform.

"I thought this was going to be a duel," one of them said with mockery in his voice. "But since you decided to bend the rules, I might as well go along," another one added. "Now I will show you a hint of my true power!"

Suddenly Ryoko felt a movement behind her and threw herself down and to the right without thinking. Not a second too soon. She could feel the draft of the energy blade cutting the spot she had just evacuated.

A quick roll over her shoulder and she was back on her feet, facing her attacker. Only that there was no attacker there. She realized her mistake as she felt a powerful surge of energy from behind her, but at the same time she knew that it was too late, she wouldn't be able to dodge the blast anymore.

She threw up her shield full force, Tenchi screamed something and then the blast hit her with terrible might. It shattered her shield and seared her back before she was torn from her feet and sent skidding over the ground by the power of the impact.

A wave of agony like she had never felt it before spread through her entire body. It felt like she had turned into a living torch. But even though the wound in her back might be lethal, she wasn't going to give in to the pain that was trying to numb her senses. She needed to see if Tenchi was alright, needed to help him.

Finally realizing that she was lying on her stomach, she pushed herself up with great effort. The agony that exploded from her back at the motion was beyond comparison. She screamed, but at the same time shifted her position even further, so she would be able to see what was going on and then, all of a sudden, the pain was turned off.

At the other side of the platform Tenchi was fighting for his life and it was a loosing battle. He was attacked by three Shade clones, throwing sword slashes and energy blasts at him from all sides. It was almost a miracle that he had managed to hold himself up to now.

Something at the side of her vision caught her attention and took it away from the terrible scene. Standing there was another Shade clone. He had his arm extended in her direction, a large energy blast taking shape in front of his open palm.

So she wouldn't be able to save Tenchi. Now her life would end without meaning after all. She was slightly surprised that these were actually going to be her last thoughts.

Shade released the energy blast.

* * *

Following Preceptor Kunrin's order the remaining ninety five ships had moved into formation around the nebula, with the largest war cruisers Estar and Tayson taking position on opposite ends, while the Desory together with three frigates had moved in to explore.

Zeidan, the young captain of the Estar, was very proud of his Juraian origin and the mighty empire he was defending. That attitude went for most Juraians, but what made Zeidan different was the fact, that he did not believe that his ancestors had planted the seeds for Jurai's flourishing development on their own.

He was one of the few still believing in the origin myth of Jurai. He believed in Tsunami.

Therefore he had watched the recent events with great concern. The holy book hadn't been kept in a top security military facility on Jurai's moon without reason. It was only a rumor, but Zeidan was sure there were some dark secrets written in that ancient book. Secrets which should not be revealed, to no one. Just the knowledge that the book was in procession of someone with dishonorable spirit was enough to make him feel very uncomfortable.

Sitting in the captain's chair he kept staring at the front screen which showed the nebula in front of the bright stars in the distance.

"Still no signal from the Preceptor? How long have they been in now?" He asked the woman at the communication panel.

"Nothing." She answered slightly annoyed. "Two minutes have passed since you asked the last time, so they have entered the nebula five minutes ago."

"Well, that's quite a long time, isn't it?" Zeidan rubbed his palms nervously thinking about their next move. The Preceptor had told them to just wait and disobeying Kunrin's orders usually caused a lot of trouble.

After another minute had passed, Zeidan took a deep breath. "Hail the Desory. I have a very bad feeling about all of this."

He really felt that the situation was serious, especially since the emperor was not informed about their discovery. With the Preceptor gone all the responsibility was lying with Larin, the captain of the Tayson, and him.

"Captain," The worry in the communication officer's voice instantly shook Zeidan out of his thoughts. "We are getting no answer."

"So either the Preceptor intentionally maintains radio silence or our signal didn't get through to them." Zeidan concluded. There was another possibility, but since it was most unlikely he had decided not to mention it. Probably it was just another manifestation of Kunrin's self important manner. At least that was what he wanted to believe.

He ordered to hail the Tayson and a moment later the nebula on the front screen was replaced by the familiar image of a red haired woman.

"I was just about to contact you." She started without any greeting, "Did you get message from the Desory?"

"No. We just tried to hail them, but we got no answer."

"Neither did we and our scientists say that the nebula cannot be the reason."

There was an unpleasant pause and suddenly an alarming thought struck Zeidan. "You think something might have happened in there?"

Larin looked at him and seemed to consider the possibility. But then she shook her head. "There's no hint of any other ships and even if there was, as one of the most powerful war cruisers of the empire the Desory would probably make quick work of them. No, I think that the Preceptor might have discovered something, which he rather wants to analyze first, before he informs us. Call it self-interest or caution, but I think that's why he didn't bother answering our calls."

"Maybe," Zeidan replied, "But let's consider your assumption is wrong and the Desory has run into trouble. We should send a few ships to have a look."

Much to his surprise Larin nodded eagerly. "I will do it myself," she stated.

"Better take a few ships with you." As Larin gave him a confused look Zeidan added quickly, "Just in case you get into trouble."

"I doubt there's any danger. But if there is, you will know." She said smiling and the connection was closed.

"Well," Zeidan leant back again "Seems like we will have to sit and wait."

* * *

Tenchi felt a draft, ducked under a horizontal sword slash aimed at him from behind, spun around and used the momentum to bat away a thrust coming from the right. Just as he was about to follow up with an offensive move himself, he was forced to retreat in a quick jump in order to avoid a terrible energy blast that came flying at him from the left.

He heard Ryoko scream and instinctively turned his head into the direction the sound had come from, but his vision was blocked by yet another Shade clone who was closing in on him. Fuelled by desperation, Tenchi threw himself at the him with a battle cry.

Gripping his sword with both hands he brought it down on his opponent in a powerful swipe. But a second before their blades made contact, he felt a sudden burst of energy from behind and instead of completing the attack, threw himself to the left. As he fell, Shade's sword slid alongside his and scored a deep gash across his right forearm. Then something soared past Tenchi's shoulder and struck the dark man head on, briefly engulfing him in eerie green flames before he was gone.

Well aware that Shade's mistake had only gained him a short breathing pause, Tenchi was about to jump back to his feet, when his sight fell upon the terrible scene playing out in front of him.

Ryoko was on the ground, obviously wounded. She was trying to get up, but just then one of the Shade clones released an energy blast at her. It struck her right on, triggering a powerful explosion.

Tenchi felt all the power drain from his muscles. His body went numb and his mind was swept blank, all thoughts of danger and battle suddenly forgotten. Unable to move or avert his eyes, Tenchi watched the blazing inferno in front of him. Nobody, not even someone as powerful as Ryoko, could survive such a devastating attack.

A small eternity passed for him until the flames finally died down and the smoke began to clear. Somewhere, just above the border of conscious thought he wondered why Shade hadn't struck him down yet. Then he took in the sight of what he had half expected to be the incinerated body of the pirate and gasped.

Ryoko was still on the ground where the blast had struck but she wasn't incinerated. Three shiny red plates were hovering in front of her, somewhat reminding Tenchi of the wings of these old wind engines which were still used on Arret. Only that those engines would never be able to produce a power as incredible as that radiating from the three red wings. There was no doubt that these wings had protected the pirate from almost certain death.

"Take the wings!" came a voice from the right.

Tenchi turned his head and was more than mildly surprised to find a woman standing there. He could have sworn that she hadn't been there just a second ago, for she could hardly have escaped his attention. Clad into a most revealing robe of purple and black, the sight of her might have seriously affected Tenchi, hadn't it been for the situation they were in. And yet, she had a regal air about her, which was strangely contrasted by the unruly spikes of her shoulder length red hair.

Though he was quite sure that he had never seen this woman before, he couldn't shake the strong feeling of familiarity she induced in him. He looked at her eyes. They were emerald green. And realization struck him like a blow.

"Washu?" he asked about at the same time as Ryoko.

Before she had any chance to reply, Shade spoke up. "Oh, now we have a really unexpected guest. May I inquire what made you decide to join us so late into the performance? Motherly feelings? Probably not."

"I am here to watch you die," Washu answered seriously. "Take the wings, Ryoko! They will grant you the power to destroy him."

For a moment the pirate seemed uncertain, but then she probably realized that she didn't have much choice in her current condition. Carefully she reached out towards the nearest wing with one hand.

As soon as she touched the surface the wings contracted and passed over her in a flash of bright red light. The result, that became visible after the blinding light had passed, was most astonishing.

Instead of lying on the ground like she had been when the light passed over her, Ryoko was now standing upright. The simple pirate outfit she had favored was gone, replaced by a light battle armor of red and black, which, Tenchi thought, fitted her perfectly. There was no trace of the terrible burns Shade's attack had inflicted on her.

As Tenchi kept staring in awe, he noticed that the pirate seemed to be just as surprised by the sudden change. She looked down upon herself with amazement, reaching for her back with one hand, probably to make sure that the wounds were really gone.

"And exactly what makes you think that she can defeat me now?" Shade asked, still addressing Washu. "As always you underestimate my potential. I'm about to gain the ultimate insight into the workings of the universe and not even you will be able to stop me." However, there was a new slightly wary quality to his voice. Obviously he could feel the incredible power now emanating from Ryoko as well.

"You can't gain any insight if you are blind. Your hunger for knowledge made you fail to see that there is more to true wisdom, just as I failed to see your ambition. If you believe only what you want to believe and learn only what you want to know, you won't understand anything and I'm speaking from experience here." She closed her eyes for a moment, a pained expression crossing her face. "Your one-sided ambition has made you blind to the truth and turned you into the wretched creature you are, neither alive nor dead, neither god nor mortal."

"Nonsense. The final truth rests in science. Don't forget that you were the one who taught me that. And through science alone I have succeeded in transcending my mortal existence. I have become more!"

"Well, then let me show you just how much you have become," Ryoko cut in. "I don't give a damn about the crap you are talking here. Only thing I know is that you messed with us and for that you are going to pay!"

The wings reappeared in front of her and she grabbed on to one of them, which turned into a magnificent sword with a sizzling red blade. Then she threw herself directly at Shade, crossing the distance in a flash by flying one feet above the ground. The dark man raised his sword just in time, but the green blade was simply shattered by Ryoko's flaming sword. This time he was actually cut in half a second before he disappeared.

But the battle was far from over. Another Shade clone materialized behind the pirate and fired an energy blast at her right away. However, even before Tenchi was able to shout a warning, the two remaining red wings sprouted from her back and completely absorbed the attack. At the same time Ryoko blocked a sword strike aimed at her by yet another Shade clone from the right, then ducked under a swipe from behind and kicked out high, sending the attacker stumbling backwards.

She was moving with lightning speed and always seemed to know where the next attack would come from. It was incredible. By now she was dealing with at least three Shade clones. Tenchi couldn't tell the exact number, because they were disappearing and rematerializing seemingly at random around the pirate, throwing energy blasts and sword slashes at her, all of which she either absorbed with her wings, dodged, or blocked. It was a dance as awe inspiring as it was deadly.

With an almost casual movement of her free hand Ryoko threw an energy blast at a clone who was closing in on her from behind, while she used her sword to keep the two in front of her at bay. Taken by surprise, the sneak attacker wasn't able to avoid the blast. It struck him in the chest, encasing him in blinding red flames before he vanished to never reappear.

Another one fell under Ryoko's sword and the last one simply disappeared, probably realizing that this tactic wasn't going to get him anywhere. Tenchi wondered what his next move might be.

But nothing happened and only then a sharp pain in his forearm made Tenchi remember his body and the somewhat awkward position on the ground in which he still found himself. Up to now he had been too absorbed in the unusual development to care or even notice.

He shifted his arm and cast a quick glance at the wound, noting that it wasn't as bad as he had thought. The sight wasn't a pretty one, for the sword had instantly cauterized the gash and he would be left with a very nasty scar, but at least there was no bleeding and it wasn't really all that deep either. Placing his hand on the ground, he tried to put some weight on it. The pain was bearable and he was about to push himself up, when he felt a sharp prick at the base of his neck.

"You may want to stay right there," said the owner of the blade he was feeling at his neck. "Now let us..." That was as far as he got. There was a flash of red above Tenchi and then the pressure of the sword was gone.

"You can get up now," said Ryoko and Tenchi was quick to comply, not wanting to make a fool of himself any more than he already had.

The pirate stood where Shade must have been just a second ago and, getting a better look at her now, he couldn't help to notice once more that she looked really great in her new outfit. Of course he knew that this wasn't the time for such thoughts and he tried to push it off with some success, but the feeling lingered.

"What now? Want to create some new bodies and try again?" she shouted all of a sudden.

At first Tenchi flinched and didn't know what she meant, but then he realized that she wasn't talking to him. Several seconds passed before she was answered by an omnipresent voice.

"You may have destroyed those shells, but you will never be able to defeat me. I am immortal!"

"Let's see about this," Ryoko stated coldly, turned around and fired an energy blast into the air seemingly at random.

Much to Tenchi's surprise, however, it actually struck something. With a loud crack the ball of red light burst asunder and quickly spread into a burning outline. The form it took was that of a slightly larger globe with hundreds of constantly moving and intertwining tentacles. Instinctively Tenchi knew that he was now witnessing Shade's true form, made visible by the flames.

When the red light finally receded there was a groan, so deep and penetrating, it made him feel like his eardrums were going to burst. This was probably the first time in ages that the being they had come to call Shade had actually been wounded.

"Still believe that you're immortal?" Ryoko asked into the direction where the apparition had been. There was no answer this time. "Well, I guess I'll have to prove you wrong."

With these words she raised both arms and summoned a powerful two-handed energy blast, which she released into the air. Again it struck home instantly, but this time with a much more devastating result. The spirit of Shade was engulfed in blinding red flames of light which seemed to have sprung directly from the core of a supernova. His scream made the whole room shudder. There was an angry rumbling from the walls as the horrible sound transferred some of its agony onto them. To Tenchi, however, it felt like the very core of the universe itself was shaking. He wanted to cover his ears, but his hands wouldn't move. All he could do was stare at the light glowing brighter and brighter.

And then it disappeared and the sound was cut off abruptly. At first Tenchi feared that he had gone blind and deaf, but then he realized that the room around him was still there and he could hear his own ragged breathing. His senses were still functional, but they couldn't detect any trace of Shade. The dark aura had worn off completely. The spirit of Shade was gone.

However, before Tenchi had a chance to think about what just happened, Ryoko did something really unexpected. She whirled around and screamed at Washu.

"Why!" Even though it wasn't addressed at him, there was such anger in her eyes that Tenchi instinctively retreated a step. "Why did you never tell me!"

If Washu was intimidated or even just surprised by the sudden outburst, she did a pretty good job at hiding it.

"I was hiding from myself," she answered calmly if not in a somewhat solemn tone. "Unwilling to face past mistakes I kept on denying the truth."

Tenchi had no idea what that was all about, but he did have a rather strong feeling it would be better not to interfere now.

"What's that supposed to mean!" Ryoko shouted, even more infuriated than before. "Look, I'm not about to take any more of that crap of yours. You abandoned me on a dead planet for who knows how many years and I expect you to tell me a damn good reason for that!"

Tenchi was shocked. He knew that the pirate and the scientist had a mutual past, but he would never have thought that something like that had happened between them.

"As I told you, I now realize that it was a mistake, but back then I thought it was right. I thought it was the only choice left to me."

"For what! What did you do it for!"

Washu sighed in resignation. "I guess you have a right to know, but you won't like the answer."

"I don't like any of this anyway, so tell me!"

"Very well then." She took a steadying breath that made Tenchi realize that Ryoko wasn't the only one facing the demons of her past here, then she started to explain. "The creature you just destroyed was once my student. Long before even you saw the light of the day he was a promising youth, bright witted and pure of heart. In him I thought I had found the one I had been searching for, the one with the power to reinforce the seal. Even then I could see that his thirst for knowledge was too strong, but in my eagerness to act I was willing to overlook this little flaw."

"You already told me that," Ryoko interrupted. "And I can't see how that's got anything to do with you dumping me on a dead planet anyway."

For a second Tenchi considered telling her that all of what Washu was telling was completely new to him and he found it very interesting, but then thought better of it when he caught sight of the barely controlled anger still clouding her features.

"You will see if you let me finish," Washu stated, a faint edge of impatience in her voice and before Ryoko had any chance to cut in again, she continued. "What I didn't tell you was that there was more to our relationship then just student and teacher. He actually became a friend. Maybe the first I ever had. I showed him the secrets of prolonged life and we worked together for a very long time. Then came the day when I thought him ready to deal with the truth of his purpose. I told him about Tsunami and Tokimi and how the seal needed to be strengthened once again... but he didn't understand." She broke off and for a second her mask fell, revealing the terrible pain the memory still brought her. But she quickly regained control and went on.

"The knowledge about the existence of a being like Tsunami changed him, or rather brought forth his true ambition. He didn't understand why I had no interest in studying a true goddess and soon came to believe that I was making things up to keep him from discovering the ultimate truth. Then, one day, he took one of the ships we had designed together and left in search for a way to break the seal."

"I hope you don't expect me to feel sorry for you now," Ryoko remarked in a derisive tone.

"No. I just want you to know," Washu answered evenly. "His betrayal came as a terrible blow to me. I had trusted him, had been certain that he was the one who held the key to the seal, but I had been wrong. For some time I continued the search for a suitable person, but my heart wasn't in it. I realize now that I didn't want to be successful, because I didn't want to be hurt like this again. So finally I decided to create my own key." She was silent for a moment, but this time Ryoko said nothing. "I used all my scientific knowledge to try and create a being fit for the task. It took me a very long time, but finally I succeeded in creating you."

Tenchi needed more than a second to take in what he had just heard. He had always thought that the pirate had something unique about her, but an artificial being created by Washu? This was just too much.

"You were perfect in every regard, but it didn't matter to me, because I saw only one purpose for you. And for that I needed to make sure that you would become pure of heart. I didn't realize that there were traits that couldn't be artificially created. The idea to think of you as an actual person never even crossed my mind. So I brought you to an abandoned planet, doing everything in my might to make sure that nobody would be able to approach it. If you lived for a long enough time far from the temptations and the treachery of the universe, I thought, you would turn out of pure heart eventually. But of course it never happened. A ship slipped past my attention one day and you escaped, turning into a ruthless pirate. Back then I decided to give up the search and forget about the seal forever."

There was silence for what seemed to Tenchi like a rather long time. He was just about to ask one of the many questions he had as Ryoko finally spoke up.

"Tell me one reason why I shouldn't kill you right here and now." Her voice was as cold as ice. It wasn't just a threat or an empty phrase. She was completely serious.

"It wouldn't do you any good," Washu responded calmly. "But if you must, I won't stop you. I'm soon going to fade anyway, so it wouldn't make much of a difference."

Fearing that the situation might get out of hand, Tenchi decided that now might be the right time to finally give in to his curiosity. "What do you mean? Are you referring to Tokimi?" He vaguely remembered Ryoko telling him about the evil goddess.

"No. But I would rather leave the explanation of this particular matter to Tsunami. She's better at this kind of stuff and now that her subspace cage was shattered she should be around soon anyway."

"Damn you!" Ryoko shouted suddenly, making Tenchi flinch. He looked at the pirate, but much to his surprise he could almost see how some of the tension fell away from her. "At least tell us why you didn't step in sooner if you had this power all along."

"Quite simple." A slightly embarrassed smile appeared on her face and her right hand started absently brushing the mop of hair on the back of her head. "Because I forgot that I even had it."

"You what?" the pirate burst out, obviously just as shocked as Tenchi.

"Now don't be so surprised," Washu scolded seriously. "I already told you that the absence of my sisters was having an effect on me. I lost most of my powers and memory, but when the seal was broken it all returned to me." It seemed like she had been about to say more, but instead she suddenly turned to the side, watching the empty space at the center of the platform with great interest. "Speaking of the devil."

* * *

"What the heck is that?" One of the officers shouted all of a sudden.

Kunrin's gaze met the front screen and he held his breath. His eyes grew wide, but his mind was having trouble to grasp what he was seeing.

The only thought he could come up with was that the nebula was stirring. It compressed in seemingly random areas while due to the reduction of particles huge gaps opened up, granting view on the surrounding space. But Kunrin's gaze was drawn from the brightness of the stars shining through, to one of the remaining grey patches which turned darker and darker.

"What's going on out there?" he whispered, as the color had reached a level of blackness so absolute, he could hardly bear it.

As suddenly as it had begun, the transformation came to a halt. The colors and particles were still moving slightly but in a different way, somewhat more randomly than before.

Kunrin regained his composure, his mind racing now. The incoming stream of visual data must have been tampered with, for what they had just witnessed couldn't have been real. He was about to ask about this, when one of his men spoke up.

"Sir, we have a clear view of the planet now."

Seeing the opportunity, Kunrin forgot about the strange behavior of the nebula for the moment. "Then let's take a look," he replied quickly.

A dark, somewhat yellowish planet appeared on the screen. It didn't look anything special, except maybe its rather unusual color.

"What about the scanning results? Have they improved as well?"

"Yes, Sir. It's almost as if the interference has disappeared completely," the officer answered, obviously unable to understand the reason for the sudden improvement. "The incoming signals are clear. There's no water down there and therefore neither plants nor animals nor any kind of civilization."

"Are the ships still there?" Kunrin asked impatiently, fearing that maybe the pirates had somehow been responsible for what he still thought to be a malfunction of their visual sensors, using it intentionally to escape unnoticed.

"They are. One is definitely the Souja. As for the tree-ships, there are actually two of them..."

"The Soto-oh?" Kunrin guessed.

"No. If the readings are correct, they are the ships of the emperor's exiled daughter and her husband."

"What?" Kunrin gasped. "Yosho and Ayeka are down there too? Seems like the emperor's enemies have come together to hold a meeting. What about the fourth ship?"

"It's a smaller one with the signature of the GP."

The thought of a conspiracy came to Kunrin's mind. But it was very unlikely that the GP would commit such an act in Juraian territory.

"Are we able to hail the emperor?"

The old officer at the communication panel typed a few commands into his station and waited. Then he shook his head. "Unfortunately no, sir."

"Damn." Kunrin cursed in a low voice. "Did we at least regain our maneuverability?"

He felt the engines of the Desory come to life under his feet, then the image on the screen started to shift slowly. Kunrin felt relieved. However, the pleasant feeling lasted only a second as he kept watching the image in front of him. The strangely coordinated movement of the nebula had started again. The dark areas, some of them sized as big as the Desory now, became darker still. One of them was drifting right in front of the flag ship.

"Is there any chance that our visual sensors..." But one of the men answered his question even before he had a chance to finish it.

"No, sir. I have already double checked them. Whatever is happening out there... it's real."

"Well, then try to avoid contact with this... dark cloud," said Kunrin slowly.

"Aye, sir," came the instant reply and the dark mass slowly slid out of the screen as the course correction was made. A second later Kunrin saw it floating back in from the right.

"Have we changed course again?"

"No, Sir. We just evaded the..." the man fell silent. Obviously he had just noticed that whatever they had wanted to do wasn't what they had done. "That's strange."

"Indeed it is," Kunrin confirmed. The cloud filled almost the whole screen by now and it seemed to be growing even more. Although he tried to fight it down, Kunrin couldn't help to feel threatened by the strange accumulation of dust. It wasn't easy to resist the urge of giving the order to charge the weapons.

"Make the ship stop." That was the one and only thing they could do.

The dark area started to change form. Oddly the horrible motion reminded Kunrin of the ripples on the surface of a lake after someone had thrown in a really big stone. But there was nothing moving into the dark area, there was something moving out!

Its color matched that of the surrounding nebula but it differed from it by the fact that it seemed to be completely solid. While a few people on the bridge gasped in shock, Kunrin kept telling himself that what he was seeing could not be real.

The solid object grew bigger and bigger. Its shape was that of an overlarge tadpole, a few grey patches scattered all over it.

"It's a ship!" came a shout from behind. For a second Kunrin felt a surge of irritation that he himself hadn't come up with this idea.

"Charge the weapons," he commanded. "If this thing is real, we should expect it to be ill-disposed towards intruders."

The black ship was almost totally out now and the dark area behind it had shrunk significantly. Kunrin wondered if it could be possible that the dust particles had manifested themselves in form of a solid mass. But right then another, more familiar movement caught his eye.

"Sir," the tactical officer shouted, "One of the frigates is starting an attack!"

"What?" Kunrin shouted and jumped up from his seat. The frigate flew at top speed towards the huge ship and started firing its weapons. Where they met the ships hull, dark sparks peeled away. At first Kunrin was sure that the black enemy had taken damage, but when the particles started to reunite with their host, he knew that he had been wrong. "Tell him to abort..."

Suddenly the remaining black matter formed some kind of long solid tail at the stern of the ship and in a flash it whipped around towards the frigate. The pilot had no chance to avoid the collision and in a split second the smaller ship was ripped apart.

"Fool," Kunrin cursed.

"Sir, the Tayson has entered. They're hailing us."

Kunrin starred at the huge tailed ship. It wasn't attacking anymore but he was sure that its crew, if it even had one, was watching their every move, waiting for the right moment to launch an attack.

"No one engages the alien ship unless it makes the first move. Give me Larin," Kunrin ordered.

Seconds later the worried face of the red haired captain of the Tayson appeared on the screen. "Why haven't you answered our calls? Captain Zeidan was afraid that something might have happened. Is everything alright?"

Kunrin's face went dead serious. "Nothing is alright! If you check your sensor logs, you will notice that a huge alien ship has just emerged out of nothing and destroyed one of our frigates in no time." He took a deep breath and continued in a more reasonable tone, "We haven't been able to get any communication through. For now I'm willing to forget about your disobeying my order, because your presence here might prove advantageous. We're probably dealing with an enemy of the empire. I will try to talk sense into them, but if that fails..."

Larin nodded. "We will render any assistance you need."

"Then let us show them that nobody challenges the authority of the Juraian empire and gets away with it."

The picture of a briefly smiling Larin was replaced by the black ship again. It waited in threatening silence, only the tail seemed to twitch slightly every now and then.

"Tell them to retreat or we will open fire."

The message was transmitted and a tensed silence settled over the bridge. Kunrin was not a man believing in the unlikely, yet he was a little shocked, when the ship actually started moving towards them.

"So they are not willing to retreat," he said slowly, "Send a last warning. The Tayson and all cruisers are to charge their weapons."

"Still no answer, sir." The voice of the communication officer announced.

Meanwhile the ship had come too close for Kunrin's taste and it was still moving in.

"Fire a warning shot right in front of them."

A glowing red plasma ball shot through space and missed the dark ship only by meters. It stopped. What appeared like small blue flames flared up all over the front part. They grew bigger and united until the whole front was ablaze with cold blue fire.

"Shields to full power!" Kunrin shouted.

Let loose by the enemy ship, a raging column of what could only be describes as blue energy fire headed for the Desory with incredible speed.

The impact was harder than Kunrin had expected. He had to hold on to his chair so he wouldn't be thrown to the floor like some of his officers.

"Sir, our shields are down to sixty percent."

"What?" Kunrin gasped. "That's impossible. Not even a tree-ship has that much firepower." But his confusion was quickly channeled into cold anger. "Anyway, it seems like they are asking for a taste of our power. Aim for their weapons and fire when ready. Have the Tayson launch an attack as well. The frigates are to stay back for the moment."

Another plasma blast was fired by the Desory and struck the black ship head-on. Satisfied Kunrin saw debris loosening from the bow. Moments later a second shot met its aim and shattered almost the entire front of the enemy ship.

"Direct hit!" a member of his crew shouted and Kunrin allowed a confident smile to play around his lips. For a second he had really feared that their defense shield was as good as their weapons, but now that he thought about it such a mighty ship couldn't possibly exist.

"Hail them. Maybe now they are willing to talk." And while the communication officer did as he was told, Kunrin absent-mindedly gazed at the front screen, wondering if this ship might be part of some kind of defense mechanism against intruders. But then it should have attacked Ryoko all the more. Yet the ship didn't show any traces of battle, except from the damage they had just dealt to it. Kunrin took a closer look. The hull was black and smooth, not a single scratch seemed to disfigure the shape.

"Sir, they are still not responding."

Kunrin ignored the statement and kept starring at the alien ship. Either he was going insane or they were dealing with something they had never dealt with before. The parts which had been cut loose by their attack were not just floating around in space, they actually seemed to be attracted by the black ship. One by one they moved towards it and finally reunited.

The noise level on the bridge rose a little. Things like "a ghost ship", "it's invulnerable" or "impressive technology" came to Kunrin's ear.

"Well," Kunrin's voice drowned out the murmurs, "Seems they are not as badly hurt as it looked like." A stern expression appeared on his face. "Instruction for all ships: destroy the enemy!"

"Finally an order I like to follow." Larin turned around to look at her crew and saw all the men and women on the bridge nodding in approval. She gave them a short smile but went serious when she eyed the ghost ship at the front screen.

With all the strange things that were going on here, the presence of an alien ship within the nebula did not really surprise her anymore. They had spotted not only the Souja on the planet's surface but also the tree-ships of the outlawed royal couple and a Galaxy Police patrol ship. She knew that the GP had always been envious of the empire's power and technology. But of course they were well aware that they would eventually loose if they launched a direct attack against the Juraian fleet. So now it appeared like they were trying to improve their position by allying themselves with space pirates, outlaws and maybe even a mysterious new enemy, who was in possession of ships with regenerative abilities. If this really was a conspiracy of sorts, it might turn out as a substantial threat to the empire.

"Order the frigates to attack with caution. We have seen how dangerous this one is."

The ships that had taken defensive position in front of the Tayson moved forward slowly. They fired at will on every part of the ghost ship, but the comparatively weak weapons of the smaller ships didn't seem to deal any serious damage.

Larin's attention was drawn to the Desory. The mighty Juraian war cruiser was shimmering majestically between all the black puddles which had emerged from the nebula. A couple of plasma balls was set free by the Desory and the ghost ship, which made no attempt at evasion, was struck head-on by the whole volley. The attack left a gaping hole in its bow.

"The preceptor is obviously in a hurry to destroy this ship. Let's give him a hand." Larin bend her head and voiced her thoughts. "The front has already been destroyed and the tail seems to function more as a weapon, so it should be safe to assume that the vital systems are situated somewhere in the center of the ship." She nodded in approval of her idea and raised her voice. "Target the center of the ship and fire with all we have got."

Another volley of glowing red plasma balls sped through space. They made contact with the center of the ghost ship, creating multiple small explosions. Larin smiled satisfied and ordered another wave of fire. Enemies of the Juraian Empire would be shown no mercy.

The black ship was engaged in a fierce battle. Dozens of the smaller Juraian ships raced towards it and attacked. Their blasters punched deep holes into the ships' hull. More than once an entire section of the dark surface was ripped apart in a local explosion when two or more frigates launched a combined attack.

The Desory and the Tayson aimed their combined fire at the middle of the ship. But still the mysterious enemy was not about to surrender. Its elongated tail lashed furiously through the lines of attackers and not all of them were able to avoid the impact.

A frigate hit by the swipe smashed into another one, causing a large explosion. The other ships in the vicinity had to fly risky maneuvers in order to avoid getting involved in the collision before they started to attack the tail from a safer distance.

The entire body of the black ship was littered with explosions. One particular powerful combined volley delivered by the Desory and the Tayson to a spot where the structural integrity had already been weakend literally cut it in two. The tail went limp. But the huge Juraian war cruisers didn't stop their attacks before all that was left of the powerful enemy ship was little more than dust and even then the smaller frigates went about destroying the remaining debris.

"They are to destroy everything, even the smallest crumb," Kunrin ordered, cold determination in his voice. "This time they are not going to rise from dust."

"Sir, the Estar is moving towards our position. Captain Zeidan is hailing us."

A dark expression appeared on Kunrin's face. "I thought I told him to stay at a safe distance. Is this man incapable of following orders as well? Put him..." Before he had a chance to finish the sentence, he was interrupted by the agitated voice of an officer.

"Captain, the nebula!" the man shouted suddenly, "It's changing form again!"

The picture of Juraian ships firing at the remains of the mysterious enemy was replaced by an image which was obviously recorded by sensors at the left flank of the ship. Kunrin recognized the outline of the Tayson and a couple of frigates in the lower right corner of the screen. It took him a second to realize what was going on, but when he did, it almost made him gasp.

The screen was slowly filling with dark particle accumulations of different sizes, which were quickly starting to transform into more of those black ships!

Kunrin was about to say something, but the words escaped him at the sight. Even in the comparatively small part of space he could see, four of the larger tailed ships materialized, surrounded by more than two dozen middle sized and an uncountable number of small ones.

"Sir, our sensors detect over two hundred ships!" A voice cut through the dreadful silence.

Kunrin shook his head in disbelief. "That's an invasion."

* * *

Before Tenchi had a chance to wonder what was going on, there was a flash of light, bright enough to blind him momentarily. The first thing he noticed when he could see again, was that Washu's gaze was still locked to the same spot, a warm smile on her face now. He turned to look at the center of the platform and immediately found the cause for Washu's strange behavior and likely the flash of light.

At the center of the circular platform was standing the goddess Tsunami. Although he had never really seen her before, Tenchi was able to identify the woman in the flowing white robe without the slightest delay. She was just like he had imagined her. Every fiber of her body was the ancient Juraian goddess of legend. He was left awestruck by the sight.

"Sister." There was genuine joy in her voice, although tinged with a hint of sadness. "It's been a long time."

"Yes, but the circumstances of our reunion are rather unfortunate," Washu stated, making it sound like she truly wished it to be otherwise.

"I know. Tokimi is growing stronger by the minute and we won't be able to hold her much longer. We need to hurry."

Tenchi felt his insides turning upside down at these words. After all that had just happened he had almost forgotten about the evil goddess. But now that she had been mentioned again, it suddenly was like he could almost feel her dark presence. It wasn't the same pulsing heartbeat he had felt on the way to the cave, but more of a lingering feeling in the back of his mind, almost like a silent whisper.

"Step forward, young hero," Tsunami said, shaking him out of his reverie.

He looked around, but as was to be expected there was still only him, Washu and Ryoko. The pirate was grinning at him and, feeling himself blush fiercely, Tenchi hurried to turn away and step up to the Juraian goddess.

"I will now bestow my power upon you, the same power that was wielded by your ancestor long ago."

He was taken aback. Though he had no idea what exactly she was talking about, he felt more than a little anxious at the idea of receiving the power of Tsunami ? whatever it might be.

"Uh... what do you mean?" he asked, noting at the back of his consciousness that it sounded somewhat lame.

But instead of answering, Tsunami only cast a questioning look at Washu, who shrugged it off before she answered, sounding a little defensive.

"I only just got all of my memory back, so I didn't get to tell them all the details yet." There was a short pause in which nobody spoke. Then she added hastily, "But they know that there was a war between your and Tokimi's people."

It was impossible to read Tsunami's expression when she looked at her sister, but Tenchi thought it was quite save to assume that this wasn't good news to her.

"That's something she's really good at, keeping people in the dark," Ryoko mumbled just loud enough to be heard by everyone.

"Well, it can't be helped then," Tsunami sighed. "I don't know how much time we have left, but if you are going to face Tokimi, you need to know the whole story."

"Face Tokimi?" Tenchi repeated aghast. "The evil goddess? You can't be serious!" The words had just burst out and he regretted them the moment they escaped his mouth. For a second the impact of what she had said had made him forget that he was talking to the supreme goddess of the Juraian empire.

But Tsunami didn't seem to mind as she answered. "Unfortunately there is no other way. You have to face her and the outcome of your confrontation will decide over the future of this galaxy."

"If there's so much at stake, why don't you do it yourselves?" Ryoko asked, her voice dangerously low. "I mean, why let us do it? Don't want to get your hands dirty?"

"You are the only ones who will stand a chance to succeed," Tsunami answered calmly, which only seemed to serve to infuriate the pirate even more. She was about to say something when the goddess silenced her with a sudden gesture of her hand. "Please, our time is running short. If you listen to what I have to tell you, you will understand. For the sake of this galaxy, please hear my story."

Tenchi was so shocked at the goddess pleading like this all of a sudden, that he temporarily lost his ability to speak. Even though he wanted nothing more than to just take Ryoko and run as far from this place as possible, there was no way he could deny such a request. Reluctantly and somewhat apprehensively he nodded. He felt Ryoko's eyes on him, but didn't dare to look at her directly, because he knew that her expression was still as grim as before. Another second passed until she finally gave a curt nod as well.

"Thank you," Tsunami said sincerely. "I will start right from the beginning. As Washu has certainly told you, long long ago the three of us took it upon ourselves to watch this galaxy we had come to exist in, becoming its guardian deities. Under our invisible guidance the galaxy prospered and before long, two powerful and highly advanced races of space-faring people had come into being, dividing our beautiful galaxy amongst themselves. One of them were the Zenarians, who kept up peace and order in their realm through a strict but just military rule. The others were the Hiraians, who valued freedom and equality, ensuring a maximum of independence to the worlds they controlled. The galaxy was huge and we successfully prevented any quarrels breaking out between the two for a very long time."

"But eventually they went at each other," Ryoko assumed as the goddess was making a rather long pause.

"No. Our power was great back then, as was our influence. We probably could have preserved peace for an even longer time to come." The expression of sadness that had taken hold of her features became even more distinct as she continued. " But eventually the younger two of us became dissatisfied with things as they were. Tokimi and me thought we needed to gain a greater insight into the nature of those who were inhabiting our galaxy and so, ignoring Washu's objection, Tokimi revealed herself to the Zenarians as their goddess and I became the guardian deity of the people of Hirai."

"Then these Hiraians were the ancestors of the Juraians?" Tenchi asked, thinking fast.

"Yes, and if it hadn't been for our ignorance, they might have existed to the present day." She sighed, casting a regretful look at Washu, who seemed not to notice. So turning back to face Tenchi and Ryoko again, she went on. "We lived with our people and subtly guided them for a long time. What we didn't notice, however, was that, in turn, their respective philosophy was affecting us more and more with the passage of time. While Tokimi finally turned into a powerful militaristic ruler, actively shaping the politics and progress of the Zenarians, I decided to watch the development of the Hiraians from behind the scenes, granting them spiritual guidance if needed but otherwise leaving them the freedom to make their own decisions. We became one with our people and thus lost our ability to see the fate of the galaxy as a whole. Of course this was bound to lead to catastrophe."

Tenchi felt a dreadful cold welling up inside of him. Up to now the idea that goddesses might make mistakes as well had never occurred to him. Considering the consequences of such a mistake, it wasn't an altogether pleasant thought.

"Before soon Tokimi started to see the Hiraians as a threat to her empire and she accused me of not exerting enough control over my people. She might have even been right to some extend, for I knew that they were not always taking what I thought to be the right course of action, but still I refused to intervene directly. It wasn't long until Tokimi decided to do something about the threat she felt from my people and the Zenarians declared war to the people of Hirai."

The cold emanating from Tenchi's feet was growing more pronounced and by now it was starting to cause him real bodily discomfort. He looked down and realized that the feeling actually wasn't at all a result of the dreadful thoughts stirred inside him by Tsunami's story. Some kind of black mist was now covering the surface of the platform, enveloping their feet. It would have looked like thick smoke, if it hadn't been for the strange glittering and sparkling of the black substance. All in all, Tenchi decided, it was a very discomforting sight.

"The war was terrible and it lasted for a very long time, but eventually the Zenarians were gaining the advantage because Tokimi herself would fight with them in vital battles, making them invincible. Finally the Hiraians were pushed back to their homeworld..." She made a gesture with her hand, indicating the space around them. "... this planet, where the final battle would take place. Knowing that it wouldn't be an easy victory, the Zenarians drew together all their forces and Tokimi led them into the final attack. I knew that my people wouldn't be able to defeat Tokimi on their own, but as a goddess of peace and spirituality, I couldn't possibly face my sister in combat."

"So you let someone else fight for you," Ryoko snarled.

"Yes, I bestowed my powers upon a young man with a pure heart. But don't judge me too harshly for this, because I had to pay a price. Drained of almost all my powers I had no choice but to go to sleep in the very place were the transfer had been performed. Here in this tomb. However, knowing that the battle that was going to take place was likely to devastate the planet, I left a handful of seeds to my people, which carried my essence, so they would be able to build a new home with the trees watching over them."

Tenchi found it increasingly difficult to concentrate on what the goddess was telling them. His feet had already gone numb from the cold and, albeit slowly, the mist seemed to be rising still, now drawing closer to his knees. He was just about to make a comment about it, when Washu spoke up to take the story from where Tsunami had left off.

"What followed was maybe the cruellest and most brutal battle the galaxy has ever seen. Fleets clashed, men and women fought to the death and Tokimi descended upon the planet in a sea of fire and destruction. Seeking out the power of Tsunami, she went to face the appointed hero here in this fateful chamber. They did battle and it waged on with a ferocity equalling that in space and on the surface. But finally, drawing on the very powers that kept him alive, the young man managed to weaken Tokimi and used the chance to activate a trap that had been set for her. It was a seal of incredible power, which bound the spirit of Tokimi to that of her sister sleeping there and only one of the direct line of the hero, with a heart as pure as his, would be able to control the seal."

"What happened to the hero?" Tenchi asked, now eager to learn about the fate of his ancestor, despite the numbness that had meanwhile reached his knees.

"He died within the hour of Tokimi's defeat. But perhaps this was a blessing for him, because he didn't have to emerge from the tomb to find his homeworld reduced to ashes. There was no victor in this battle. The fleet of the Zenarians was shattered and the homeworld of the Hiraians ruined and made uninhabitable. It was the end of two civilisations."

"Yes, yes, a very tragic story," Ryoko commented indifferently. "But right now I'd rather like to know what's going on in the present." She pointed at the black mist which had become more than knee deep by now.

"Tokimi is growing stronger," said Tsunami worriedly. "We need to hurry."

Then, without giving them a chance to inquire further, she raised her arms into the air to either side of her head and closed her eyes. Her face showing an expression of intense concentration, she almost looked like she was doing some strange ritual of worship. But before Tenchi could follow this trail of thought any further, a globe of pale blue light suddenly shimmered into existence in front of him. He quickly retreated a step as it split into three parts, which immediately lost their spherical form and grew in length until they formed the same kind of triple wings that Washu had summoned for Ryoko. The only difference was that the ones in front of Tenchi were glowing in pale blue instead of red.

"Please accept them," Tsunami asked gently, but with a poorly hidden undertone of desperation.

Tenchi hesitated. The thought of being offered the powers of an ancient goddess was still as disturbing to him as ever, but deep down he had already realized that there was no turning back now. He had opened the door and now he needed to face the demons lurking beyond.

Slowly he raised his arms and reached for the upper two of the shiny blue plates hovering in front of him. Carefully his fingers moved closer and closer to the glowing surface, until they were only inches from it and he could clearly feel the incredible power pulsing through the wings. If he touched them, all of it would be his, but he felt absolutely no exhilaration at the thought. How was he supposed to wield such power?

Just before his hands made contact with the surface of the wings, he stopped once more and looked over his shoulder at Ryoko. The pirate's expression was as grim as before, but what he saw in her eyes wasn't the terrible anger at Washu anymore. It was the fire of determination. Right then he wouldn't have needed the curt and almost imperceptible nod from her to know that she would stand with him, no matter what he decided to do. A most peculiar feeling of warmth started to spread through his body, just like it had in front of the door to the sanctuary and, drawing strength from it, he reached out to grasp the wings.

The fingers of both his hands touched the surface at the same time and went right through it. Instantly he felt the power pouring into his body. It was as fierce as a violent flood and as gentle as a soft embrace. Tenchi closed his eyes and immediately lost himself in the sensation. Time and space ceased to exist around him as every atom of his body was touched and transformed by the power of the wings. He felt this, though his spirit had already been swept out of his body by a wave of exhilaration and was now soaring free. And then, all of a sudden, it was over.

For a moment he felt like a stranger in his own body, leaving him slightly disoriented, but the feeling passed quickly and soon he thought it safe to open his eyes. The room hadn't changed and the mist level didn't seem to have risen by much either, so the process couldn't have taken more than a few seconds.

Tsunami was smiling at him and Washu was giving him an unreasonably mirthful look, considering the circumstances. He turned around to find Ryoko staring at him, positively awed. Only then it occurred to him to check himself for any visible changes. And indeed his casual Arretian clothing had been replaced by flowing robes of white, blue and purple, which gave him an appearance strongly resembling that of Tsunami. He couldn't help to notice that the look seemed to fit him well.

"It is time," said Tsunami behind him, making him turn.

"Time?" Tenchi repeated, still somewhat confused by the whole development.

"Yes, the time has come for us to leave this plain of existence and fade into nothingness."

"What?" Ryoko exclaimed incredulously, perfectly mirroring Tenchi's feeling. "You can't be serious!"

"Of course she is and I already told you about that," said Washu irritably.

"But why? Why would you do this?" Tenchi asked, unable to even try to think of a reason.

"The galaxy has no need for us anymore. If we stay, we will only repeat the mistakes of the past and maybe cause even greater damage than we already did," Tsunami explained patiently.

"And then there's the thing that now that we have passed our powers on to you, we won't last much longer anyway," Washu added casually. "Of course we could always go to sleep for another eon or two, but what's the difference?"

"So that's it? You transfer your powers to us and then leave us to clean up your mess?"

Tenchi was shocked at the way the pirate addressed not only Washu, but Tsunami as well. However, the Juraian goddess didn't seem to notice.

"Please, you have to understand that we cannot stand against our sister. If we did so, it would be impossible even for us to predict what would happen, but it would definitely be the first step on a road leading to catastrophe."

"Not to forget that our demise will gain you a big advantage," Washu cut in. "With both of us gone Tokimi will eventually weaken like I did. I don't know how long it will take but the process will probably be sped up if you manage to get her exhausted." And after a very short pause she added, "Even if you fail and she destroys Jurai, there might still be hope because she will one day lose her powers."

"You've really thought of everything, haven't you?" Ryoko said angrily.

Acting out of a sudden impulse, Tenchi turned to face the pirate.

"They didn't plan this. They couldn't have. After all Tsunami was asleep the whole time and Washu had lost her memory." Ryoko was staring daggers at him, but she didn't interrupt and so after taking a deep breath he continued. "I'm the one who broke the seal and endangered the whole galaxy. So now it's me who must face that danger." He was actually surprised at the resolve in his own voice.

The pirate kept staring at him as though about to say something, but then she seemed to think better of it and the flame of anger in her eyes receded a little.

"I hope you know what you're doing," she murmured.

"Well, now that that's settled, we should go," Washu said urgently.

"We are truly sorry to ask this of you, but please take care of our sister. She is not an evil person, but I fear that she has been twisted by her hatred."

After speaking these words Tsunami closed her eyes, as did Washu beside her and at the same time the dark mist started to stir around them. It seemed to withdraw from the figures of the two goddesses which were now emitting a pale glow that was growing brighter by the second. Finally Tenchi had to shield his eyes against the blinding light and when it dissipated and he opened his eyes again, they were gone.

However, the mist hadn't calmed down. It was now boiling all around them like an angry ocean. Tenchi tried to use his arm to keep the black substance at bay, but it just passed through the mass as if it wasn't there. Right then an energy blast flew past him and was swallowed by the black surface. Obviously Ryoko was trying more aggressive methods with the same result.

Then, just as suddenly as it had come to life, the mist drew away from them. It took Tenchi a second to realize that the retreat wasn't limited just to the place in which they were standing. Actually the mist that had just covered the whole platform was now flowing together in the very center of it, where it was creating an ever growing sphere of darkness as complete as a space without stars.

"What the...?" Ryoko breathed behind him.

But Tenchi already had a pretty good idea of what was happening. He could feel an incredible power radiating from the center mass and it was growing stronger by the moment.

His worst fears were proved when almost immediately after the last wisp had been absorbed, the dark globe started to bend and twist, reshaping itself. Within seconds it had taken human form and finally the darkness receded to reveal the features of a woman.

She had shoulder length brownish grey hair with a strange pin attached to her forehead like a spider from which two legs extended streamlined to either side of her head. Somehow it gave the impression of a crown, although she wasn't actually wearing one. Her eyes were the strangest shade of dark blue, with pupils framed in purple. Their exotic appearance was accentuated even more by the green markings that extended up from her neck, around her cheeks to right under her eyes like scales.

Her clothes were robes of brown and red with a billowing white shawl flowing over her shoulders from the point where it was attached right over her breast. It might have been Tenchi's imagination, but all in all the woman seemed much more intimidating to him than her sisters.

She looked down upon herself and then smiled at them, sending a shiver down Tenchi's spine.

"How I have longed for this moment," said Tokimi.

* * *

Chapter notes:

Well, what should I say? ... I'm back. The reason for the incredibly long delay in posting this chapter is rather silly. Up until a few days ago I actually clung to the thought that the story needed to be finished with this chapter being the last one. Only when we had written out almost the entire ending, I realized that if we put all of it into a single chapter, it would have turned out ridiculously long compared with the other ones. So I finally decided to split it in two. If I had done this earlier, we could have posted this chapter about one year ago, because that's when the stuff in here was written. However, you have to see the positive side of this: the story is written out almost completely by now and the conclusion will definitely be out before soon.

In this chapter, all the space scenes have been written by my sister and the ground scenes have been written by me.

As I said, we only need to add the finishing touches to the last chapter and the epilog, so I hope that it will be out really soon.

See you in the very last chapter.


	18. Purified Corruption

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of their original creators and all those affiliated with them. I have neither created them, nor do I own them. Any new characters as well as the events within this story are created by me and my sister, so they are our property. This story is written for fun and as an homage to the world of Tenchi.

* * *

Chapter 17 - Purified Corruption

Zeidan closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and tried to calm down. The beautiful goddess Tsunami appeared in front of his inner eye. She gave him a supporting smile and he relaxed. 'We need your help now,' he told her. 'Please, lend us...' A sudden shout let the goddess burst like a soap-bubble.

"Captain! They are targeting us!"

A hard impact shook the ship. The lights went out and for a couple of seconds only the moans of the officers echoed over the bridge. Then the lights and instruments came back to life.

"We should have followed the Preceptors orders," Zeidan whispered while his eyes slid over the incredible number of enemy ships on the screen. They had appeared out of nowhere just a minute ago. Such an enormous fleet could not be subject to the world of mortals. It must have been created by someone godlike. Zeidan shivered. "The huge one is charging again, shall we open fire?" One of the navigational officers shouted.

"No!" Zeidan shook his head frantically. "That would only provoke them. We retreat for the moment."

"What about the Desory and the Tayson, captain? They are trapped inside and probably under attack just like us," a young officer spoke up. "Are we going to just abandon them und run?" he added carefully.

"We are not going to run away!" Zeidan's resolute voice boomed over the bridge. "All we do is to maintain a strategic position. If we are engaged in a chaotic battle now, we will most likely be surrounded like the others. Bearing in mind the incredible number of enemy ships we cannot let this happen!"

After a moment of silence, the front screen showed movement, indicating that the Estar was retreating. Another attack struck the ship but other than some burned circuits there seemed to be no further damage. Zeidan was relieved to see that the enemy ships weren't following them when they moved off.

"Full stop," he ordered, still watching the scene that played out on screen. He did not like the thought of battling an obviously superior fleet, but with the Desory and the Tayson both trapped inside he didn't have much of a choice. "Calculate a direct course towards the Desory. The frigates shall take advantage of the Estar's size. We are flying at the head and concentrate our fire on the larger enemy vessels, while they attack either the smaller ships or the larger ones once they are damaged. We are going to help our comrades, but first..." he took a deep breath, "... first I have to speak to emperor Azusa if possible"

A faint blue glow at one of the enemy battleships instantly made Kunrin forget his thoughts about the consequences the appearance of the black fleet might cause for the empire. "All power to the shields," he commanded. A shockwave went through the ship. The blue fire must have only scratched the Desory for Kunrin saw it trailing off to the left ripping two of their frigates apart.

"No damage," came the report.

'But that will change soon,' Kunrin added in thought as he watched more of the enemy ships' fearsome weapons flicker to life.

He took a deep breath and turned to his crew. "Time to act," he said loudly and nodded towards his communication officer, making a short pause before he continued. "The presence of these ships within Juraian territory by itself is an act of aggression not to speak of their unprovoked attack. There is no doubt that we are dealing with a powerful enemy, but...", Kunrin's voice became more resolute, "... we are not going to be threatened by numbers if the safety of our people is at stake. We are responsible for preserving peace within the empire and therefore we are going to stop the enemy fleet right here!"

A chorus of agreement filled the bridge but Kunrin did not wait for it to ebb down. "Tell the squadron commanders that we are going to attack in standard formation. They must gather around the Desory and the Tayson in order to..."

He had to hold on tight to his chair when the ship was suddenly hit. Kunrin turned towards the screen and saw a middle sized cruiser whose front sparkled in the brightest blue.

"Take out their weapons!" He shouted and seconds later a volley of red plasma fire ripped the attacking ship apart. But it was immediately replaced by two smaller ones and much to Kunrin's dismay the debris of the scattered ship was already reuniting again.

Three Juraian frigates, who had watched the scene, quickly started to attack the remains. Two managed to destroy huge parts but the third fell to a sudden tail-swipe of one of the enemies nearby.

The Desory itself was firing incessantly at every enemy ship in reach but only few were shattered to pieces like the first one. Some of them retreated in order to recover, only to come under heavy attack by the Juraian frigates.

Kunrin turned away from the blue and red spectacle illuminating the everlasting darkness of space and strolled over to a console. The officer working there moved aside to enable free view of the screen.

"Doesn't look good, sir," the officer stated. "It's difficult to tell how much of them we have destroyed...", he faltered, "... I mean really destroyed, but it doesn't seem to be too many."

"That means nothing. The battle has only just started." Kunrin replied, an undertone of anger vibrating in his voice, and he headed back to his chair.

The Desory was shaken constantly by directs hits of enemy plasma fire but for some reason it were only the smaller ships who attacked. The huge cruisers neither fired nor moved. Nevertheless Kunrin watched more than once how they destroyed a careless cruiser within their range just by moving their tail with lightning speed.

"Sir, we are getting a call from the Tayson," the communication officer disturbed his pondering.

"I hope Larin has good news." Kunrin said and moments later the features of the captain of the Tayson appeared on the front screen.

"Preceptor," she spoke up immediately, "All the frigates in the vicinity have gathered around the Tayson. We are in alpha standard formation, but..." A bit of the enthusiasm faded from her voice, "... we have already lost eight. We are awaiting further orders. How are we..." Larin's voice was drowned out by a high pitched sound. A horrified look appeared on her face, but the screen display already started to distort and before Kunrin could say another word, the connection was interrupted.

"Restore the connection," he ordered the communication officer.

"Sir, the Tayson has taken two direct hits," came the tactical report. Kunrin's eyes fixed the communication panel but after a few seconds the man shook his head. "There's no response."

"They must have suffered an overload in their circuits," Kunrin concluded and nodded to himself, realizing that that could be the only explanation for the interruption of the com. "They will cope with their problems. Send orders to every ship out there," his voice became resolute. "Stay in constant motion. Fly as fast as possible. Choose random directions. Targets to aim for are the smallest and middle sized enemy ships. Whenever one of them is in range of your weapons, fire. Don't bother destroying them completely. It seems to take more than a frigate for that, but you can weaken them. We will finish them off then."

He made a short pause, in which the Desory was slightly shaken by another impact. Kunrin clenched his fists, when he spoke up again. "We will show them that this system is ruled by Juraians. Commence counterattack!"

Instantly he saw the few ships which had taken cover close to the Desory spread out in every direction, joining their comrades already involved in battle with the enemy. Before, the battle had already appeared chaotic to Kunrin, now it was pandemonium. The frigate commanders took him at his word and flew the wildest maneuvers, evading most of the slower black ships' fire and attacking them at the same time. They didn't inflict too much damage on the enemy but they prevented them from firing for those precious seconds the Desory needed to finish them off.

Once again space was illuminated by a deadly dance of blue and red lights. Kunrin watched an extraordinarily skilled pilot who flew directly towards three enemy ships. He made the ship spin and managed to evade the fire of all three enemies. Finally he came close enough to attack and retreated only when two of the enemies had been hit.

"Target those two cruisers!" Kunrin ordered his crew and moments later the enemy ships were torn apart by red plasma fire. "Good," he said and relaxed a little in his chair.

The fleet appeared to be taking much less damage than it was handing out now. A cautious smile appeared on his face.

"Seems like we are finally getting the upper hand," he stated and nobody disagreed.

In fact he was a little surprised by this sudden turn of tides. Only minutes ago he had had serious doubts about them emerging victorious but now it was obvious that they were the ones in control of the battle. It almost seemed as if the enemy had lost his will to fight and the larger ships still didn't attack. Hopefully they would retreat once they realized that the battle had turned against them.

Now that they seemed to be out of any immediate danger, Kunrin dared to think about other important matters. "Any news of the Tayson?"

"We have located her. She has drifted closer to the surface but is obviously engaged in combat."

"Well, they will manage somehow." Kunrin leant back and watched his ships finishing off the remaining enemies. After a while there was no trace left of the black fleet other than the large ships still waiting in threatening silence. "Nothing left to regenerate," Kunrin murmured contented.

Larin breathed in very carefully in order to avoid another coughing fit. The smell of scorched cable was still present on the bridge and a thin layer of dust covered all instruments. The Tayson had suffered severe damage and only some of it had been repaired within the last minutes. The communication as well as the defense systems had been irreparably damaged. Unfortunately the drive had suffered as well.

By now at least the weapons were online again and the Tayson had already managed to destroy five enemy ships, but with every hit the ship took the defense shield grew weaker. It was only a matter of time until it would break down. But Larin was determined to do everything in her might to secure the survival of her crew. She had already ordered to head for the planet's surface.

"How long will we need?" Larin asked, knowing exactly that she would not like the answer.

"About ten minutes. It's still a few thousand miles."

"Damn." Ten minutes was a very long time and it was most unlikely that they would survive that long. Not with that many enemy ships out there. If they could only contact the Desory. Larin didn't like the thought of asking Kunrin for help, but right now she would have gladly done it.

"Captain, they are falling back."

Larin watched the screen closely for a few seconds and realized what tactical officer meant by the unexpected statement. The enemy ships stopped firing one after another and headed back towards the planet.

At first Larin felt a wave of relief wash over her, but when it had passed she frowned.

"Why are they retreating?" she wondered.

One of her officers looked up from his display and answered. "It seems like the Desory has inflicted quite a lot of damage. Maybe that chased them off."

"I would like to believe that, too," Larin replied, "But if I retreated, I wouldn't head for a planet surrounded by enemies."

When everyone realized what her words meant, a dreadful silence shrouded the bridge.

Finally the tactical officer voiced what everyone was thinking. "So they are only taking up a new formation?"

"It's obvious, isn't it?" A bitter smile appeared on Larin's face. "And this time they will most likely use the larger ones as well. We will be in real trouble if that happens. I just hope the Preceptor has come to the same conclusion." She took a deep breath, "We are not going to go down to the surface. That would probably get us directly into their line of fire. Change course. Head back towards open space at maximum speed."

The Tayson turned to fly a rather clumsy arc, which was much too wide for Larin's taste, but finally made them ascent once again. Even so, they were extremely slow.

"Is that all we get?" Larin asked, somewhat ill at ease.

"Unfortunately yes, Captain. The repairs on the drive are still underway."

Larin just made a discontented sound and her eyes fixed the front screen again. She just hoped that they would be out of reach before the next attack was started.

Almost all of the black ships had disappeared by now and with the space clear again Larin could already see the Desory in the distance.

But her hopes were crushed by a shout from the tactical officer. "Captain! Something is coming!"

The image on the front screen was replaced by a view of the planet behind them, but as much as Larin gazed at the remains of the nebula obscuring it, she couldn't see a single enemy ship there.

"What are you talking about." She shook her head. "There's nothing but our own ships out there."

"The readings I get are all messed up," the officer clarified. "But something is destroying our ships."

"What?" Larin stared at the image of the three frigates following the Tayson. They were flying in a wide angle formation to protect their backside and had almost left the area covered by the remains of the nebula.

The ship closest to the planet exploded. Its remains vanished completely in a matter of seconds, almost like nothing had happened at all. For a moment Larin considered the thought that she was imagining things, but then the second ship was ripped apart.

"What the hell?" she shouted, unable to keep her composure. "What's happening out there?"

The last frigate disintegrated. And this time everyone could see what happened to the remains. They were absorbed by a wall of darkness, which spread out with enormous speed.

Shocked, Larin just starred at the dark nebula coming slowly closer until, after an endless second, she was finally able to think straight again.

"All available energy to the drive. We have to get away from here!"

"Preceptor, the Tayson has changed course and is now heading towards our position."

"Good," Kunrin replied and watched the majestic appearance of the war cruiser coming closer. "Still no answer to our calls?"

The communication officer shook his head and Kunrin shrugged. "They will be here soon enough." He frowned when suddenly another thought crossed his mind. "I thought I gave orders to the entire fleet a while ago, but I'm still waiting for the report from the Estar."

The officer at the communication panel turned around. "Captain Zeidan hasn't reacted to our call. Maybe we weren't able to reach him by short range communication. The long range communication doesn't seem to be functional yet," he added quickly.

"Zeidan..." Kunrin hissed and gazed at the screen. "Do our sensors detect him and the rest of the fleet?"

"I'm not sure, but I think yes," an officer answered.

"What do you... mean... by...," Kunrin's eyes narrowed. He could have sworn that just a moment ago five Juraian ships had followed the Tayson, but now it were only three. "... by you think yes?"

"Er, there's too much interference but I reckon there are a whole lot of ships out there, much more than our fleet counts and they are all engaged in battle."

"Engaged in battle?" Kunrin repeated unbelievingly. "But the black ships have..." He faltered when he saw one of the frigates following the Tayson disappear. Seconds later another one vanished.

"What are the pilots doing?" Kunrin stared at the remaining ship in confusion.

"There doesn't seem to be any enemy activity out there. It's just..." The officer stopped in mid sentence, when the last cruiser vanished from the screen. "It's just the nebula."

"The nebula?" Kunrin asked doubtfully. "Didn't it disappear with the appearance of those black ships?" He sat up straight when realization struck him. If the enemy was able to build ships just from dust, they might just as well be able to reverse the process. "Full speed towards the Tayson, weapons ready to fire," Kunrin shouted.

The Desory turned and accelerated. Kunrin could now clearly see the wave front of the nebula catching up closer and closer to the Tayson. At their current speed they would not be able to outrun it.

"Fire at that wave front!" Kunrin ordered.

A volley of plasma fire raced through space and disappeared into the expanding dark cloud that was the nebula. There was absolutely no reaction. The expansion didn't slow down by the slightest bit. Kunrin desperately thought on a way to help the Tayson, but there was little they could do from their current position.

"Fire all weapons at random intervals as close to the Tayson as possible!"

Space was lit up by an incredible amount of plasma balls loosening from the Desory and vanishing inside the nebula. But still the expansion did not stop. It reached the heck of the Tayson and started enveloping the ship. For a moment it seemed like the ships was able to break free by accelerating, but then the drive seemed to break down completely and within seconds the mighty Juraian war cruiser was ripped apart and absorbed.

"The Tayson is gone," the tactical officer stated unbelievingly.

Kunrin stared at the screen, unable to accept that a ship of such power could have been destroyed that easily.

"Captain, at current speed the expansion will reach us in two minutes."

Kunrin closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Our weapons are obviously of no use against it. We have to move away from it, if we don't want to end like the Tayson. Change course. We are heading for the location of the Estar."

* * *

"So you are the one who broke the seal." The goddess looked at Tenchi and despite her smile and the sweetness of her voice, there was a malevolence in her eyes that made Ryoko shudder. Then the smile suddenly vanished from her face and when she spoke again there was not a trace of sweetness left. "I can smell the disgusting stench of Tsunami on you, which means you must be a Hiraian. It's a shame... but since you were the one who set me free, I think you have at least earned yourself the right on a quick death."

"You are wrong, I'm a Juraian. The planet Hirai was turned into a lifeless wasteland long ago." Ryoko was surprised at the firmness in Tenchi's voice and how he seemed completely unfazed by the threats of the goddess in front of him.

"I don't care if they have changed their name and their home world. All that matters to me is that the cursed people of Tsunami are finally wiped from the face of our galaxy."

"So you have a grudge against the Juraians, fine. They're not exactly my favorites either. But if you want to hurt Tenchi, you'll have to get through me first," Ryoko said, not quite succeeding in her attempt to sound casual.

"You," All of a sudden, Tokimi's voice was sweet again, as she turned her attention towards the pirate. "You carry the essence of Washu. So the false snake has finally taken sides. I always knew that she was secretly favoring Tsunami. But it doesn't matter, as long as they are both too cowardly to stand up to me by themselves."

"Your sisters are gone," Tenchi said simply.

Tokimi's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Can't you feel it? They have faded away from this universe." Although his voice remained firm, there was a hint of confusion in his eyes now and Ryoko couldn't hold it against him. She too had somewhat expected the goddess to know about the fate of her sisters through the bond she thought they were sharing.

"You lie!" Tokimi hissed. "None of them would ever give up their eternal existence. Just the thought of it is preposterous."

Ryoko was starting to get the feeling that something was very wrong here. There was no doubt that Tsunami and Washu were gone. She could feel the absence of the scientist turned goddess deep inside of her, like a small hole, which was probably a side effect of the powers she had inherited. But then, why did Tokimi not feel it? Was it possible for a goddess to be blinded by hatred? Ryoko definitely didn't like the idea.

"They must take me for a fool to come up with such a ridiculous story," Tokimi said more to herself than to anyone in particular. Then she turned her head to face Tenchi again. "I know that they sent you to stop me, because they don't have the courage to do it by themselves. But you won't be able to defeat me this time. I will restore my people to their rightful place in this galaxy!"

"If you are talking about the Zenarians, that might turn out quite difficult, because they are long since gone, just like the Hiraians," said Ryoko. She didn't know exactly what kind of reaction she had expected with this statement, but it was certainly not the one she got.

"Are they?" Tokimi smiled at her, which was a very unsettling sight. "This just shows how well my sister understands her handiwork of weaving webs of lies. See for yourselves."

She made a waving gesture with her hand and almost instantly the air above her came to life. Or at least that was how it seemed. There was a distortion like the ones Washu had used in her portals, but it grew much more quickly. In a single second it had grown to at least four times the size of a portal.

Ryoko summoned her sword and went into a battle stance, although she knew that if something came out of there, it would most likely be very difficult to fight.

But it quickly turned out that her worry was unfounded. The distortion stopped growing and the next moment it was filled with colors and movement. The scene it showed was so frantic, that at first the pirate didn't realize what it was. Then, after her eyes had gotten used to the sudden surge of information, she could distinguish between the stars, the ships and the weapon fire they were throwing at each other.

It wasn't a portal, which Tokimi had summoned, it was a giant screen, which was obviously showing a scene in space, and a very disturbing one at that. From what Ryoko could see, a rather large fleet of Juraian ships were fighting against a force of ships like she had never seen them before.

"What is this?" Tenchi asked, before she had a chance to do the same.

"Your friends out there think they can stop the return of my children with their pathetic fleet. They are the first who will be obliterated before we take the fight directly to their home world."

At first Ryoko didn't understand, but then, as the perspective changed a little, she noticed a faitly yellow object in the background, which seemed to be enveloped by a strange mist, similar to that Tokimi had appeared from. It was the planet Hirai, the one they were currently on. But what was a Juraian fleet doing here? And were had the unknown attackers come from? When she had arrived, she hadn't noticed any ships in the vicinity. It didn't make any sense.

"Who tells us that what you're showing us is true?" she asked the obvious.

"Believe it or not, the Zenarians are back," Tokimi answered, an edge of impatience having crept up on her voice now. "And under my lead they are going to take their revenge on the cursed Hiraians."

"Why do you hate them so much?" Tenchi asked suddenly, much to Ryoko's surprise.

"Why? Why you ask?" the goddess screamed, making them both flinch. "Because they locked me away from my people and slaughtered them while I could do nothing to protect them!"

Now Ryoko was really confused. It wasn't the fact that Tokimi believed that her people had been slaughtered by the Hiraians, because she had already expected something like this and deep inside she knew that it wasn't true. But if she thought that her people had been eradicated, how could she believe that they had returned to take their revenge at the same time? Her feeling that there was something wrong here was turning into certainty.

"But..."

"Silence!" Tenchi was interrupted furiously by the goddess. "I will have no more of your lies!" Suddenly the smile returned to her face, but the fury still emanating from her eyes was turning it into something else. "You don't believe in what you are seeing with your own eyes? Well, then I think it's only fitting for you to be killed by your own ignorance."

As soon as she had spoken those words, a change went through the strange screen above their heads. At first it was very subtle and Ryoko felt it more than she could see it, but then the image of the fierce battle in space started to blur. The ships were losing their shape and turned into swirling dots of black and grey.

The process fastened until the screen had dissolved entirely and in its place there was now a cloud of dark mist, which slowly descended towards the ground in front of Tokimi. Ryoko raised her sword. She was pretty sure that this time the goddess meant business. A quick glance at Tenchi showed her that he seemed to have come to the same conclusion.

Meanwhile the cloud had reached the ground and started to change its shape again. The mist was gathering in two spots, which seemed to be growing darker and more substantial by the second. Then, when the blackness had reached a level that almost hurt the eye, Ryoko realized what was happening. Two bodies were taking shape right in front of them, much like it had happened with Tokimi before.

"May I introduce, the elite warriors of the Black Wing. They are the best among the best of my children," the goddess announced proudly.

As silly as it was in such a situation, Ryoko's first thought at the sight of the two men now standing face to face with Tenchi and her was that the name was suiting them well. They wore tight fitting uniforms almost as black as the strange accumulation of mist out of which they had appeared. Being just as dark, their helmets only added to the image. Their faces were completely hidden by a visor and if it hadn't been for her sharp sight Ryoko might have thought they had a black globe sitting on their shoulders instead of a head. But that wasn't all. The aura they were emitting was way too faint to be that of a living person.

Ignoring this fact for the moment, the pirate's eyes found the weapon of the man standing in front of her. It was a sword just big enough to make it difficult but probably possible to wield in one hand. The blade was darkened so it would fit the man's clothing. The most striking feature however was the small barrel that seemed to be fixed to the underside of the blade. Ryoko had a pretty good idea about its purpose. She had heard about combined blaster-sword weapons before, but since they were extremely hard to use and therefore very rare, she had never actually seen one before.

"Now the time has come for you to pay the price for what you did to us!" Tokimi shouted, effectively putting an end to Ryoko's examination of the man's weapon.

"I don't know how you managed to create those puppets, but if you think they will be able to stop us, think again."

With these words the pirate rushed forward and raised her sword, intending to cut through weapon and man like through paper. There was no way a solid sword could stand against the energy blade born from Washu's powers. Her sword came down on the man in a two handed strike like a bolt thrown by an angry god and he made no movement to avoid the blow. Only when the blade was mere inches from cutting into his shoulder, his right hand moved with lightning speed and suddenly the descent of Ryoko's weapon was stopped by his own dark blade.

The shock and the terrible force of the impact almost made the pirate lose the grip on her sword. Her arms were thrown back into the air and left her body wide open for a quick counterattack. A chance which the man didn't miss. Normally his entire sword arm should have been numbed by the attack he had just absorbed, but obviously it wasn't. With incredible speed and precision his weapon came down and around, aiming for Ryoko's exposed mid-section. The fight would have been over at this point, if it hadn't been for her wings. She summoned them more out of instinct than conscious thought and they moved into place to block the attack just in time.

The Zenarian's sword struck the wing and Ryoko was thrown off her feet and into the air by the power of the blow. Reacting quickly she turned her flight into a back flip and landed on her feet just outside the range of her opponent. The maneuver brought Tenchi back into her field of vision. Obviously he wasn't about to make the same mistake like her in underestimating his adversary. He and the man were circling each other warily.

Knowing that Tenchi would be able to take care of himself for now, she returned her full attention to her own opponent. She had somewhat expected him to charge right after her and press his attack as long as he had the advantage, but strangely he didn't. Instead he raised his sword to point it at her in a challenging gesture.

She realized her mistake the fraction of a second before the man fired his weapon. Once again she was saved by the wings, which absorbed the lethal blast just as it was about to strike home. The feedback caused by the impact was rather strong, which meant that the man's blaster had to be impossibly powerful, but the pirate wasn't going to be intimidated that easily. Not about to give the Zenarian another chance to attack she gathered some energy in her left hand and threw it at him.

Unfortunately the man didn't react quite as she had expected. He batted the blast aside with his sword like it was no more than a bothersome insect, effectively sending it hurtling right towards Tenchi, who had to jump back to avoid being hit.

"Now you've done it. I'm going to make you hurt for that," Ryoko snarled.

Wasting no time with devising a strategy, she teleported right behind the man and attacked. He spun around with lightning speed and blocked her strike, but this time she had been prepared. A second later they were locked in fierce combat. Faster and faster their blades clashed, until all there was left to see were deadly blurs of red and black.

Ryoko needed all her concentration in order to keep up with the Zenarian's attacks and at the same time rotate her wings so they would block the occasional blaster bolt he fired at her as their swords clashed again and again. However, she also had a slight advantage, because his fighting style was familiar to her. She didn't know how this was possible and in the heat of battle she didn't have the time to think about it, but that fact made it somewhat easier for her to anticipate his attacks.

Still, the man was way too good as to easily score a decisive hit on him. If she wanted to end this fight anytime soon, she would have to take a risk. She kept parrying his blows a little longer and then, when she felt confident enough with his rhythm, she averted some of her attention and started to form an energy ball in her left hand. Obviously realizing her intention, the man intensified his attacks and Ryoko was forced back, but she kept her focus on the energy blast. Then he made the mistake she had been waiting for. Pressing his advantage he brought his sword around, about to deliver the powerful attack that would finally shatter her concentration. But instead of attempting to block it, the pirate moved forward and released the energy blast at point-blank range.

The man reacted much quicker than he should have, trying to twist his upper body away with the momentum of his attack, but he was still too slow. The blast struck him right in the chest. However, it didn't have quite the effect the pirate had expected. Instead of vaporizing him, or at least leaving a burned hole in his chest, the blast seemed to be completely absorbed by his suit the moment it made contact, leaving him apparently unscathed. But the sheer force of the impact made him stagger backwards and that was all Ryoko needed.

Not wasting her chance in hesitation, she used the drive of her own attack to deliver a high roundhouse kick to the head of her opponent. Her booted foot struck the base of his helmet with thunderous force and his head was thrown back with a nasty cracking sound. He stumbled, then fell backwards and just before he struck the ground, his helmet came off.

For a second Ryoko thought to see a flash of the features of a young man, resembling Tenchi, but before she could get a closer look, the image dissolved into grey mist together with the man's entire head. Even after it was completely gone, the grey particles kept rising from the neck of his uniform like steam.

Suddenly there was an inhuman scream, filled with so much anguish and anger that Ryoko felt like her head would burst under the terrible onslaught of emotions. The sound didn't stem from the thing she had just felled. It was the scream of the angry goddess behind her.

She spun around and the last thing she saw before her mind was wiped blank was the madness in Tokimi's eyes.

* * *

Chased by the expanding nebula, the Desory and the remaining frigates made their way through space. Kunrin's estimation that the Juraian ships were faster than the nebula had proven right and they were leading now at least a few minutes. But Kunrin was not foolish enough to think things had turned in their favour.

"When will we arrive at the Estar's position?" Kunrin asked, impatiently tipping the armrest of his chair while starring out into the darkness of space.

"The Estar seems to..." The man fell silent when a sudden movement on the screen caught the attention of everyone present on the bridge.

Kunrin had no clue where they had come from, but five of the larger black ships were closing in on the Desory. They were flying in a loose star-like formation, obviously trying to block their path.

"Damn," he swore, "Full power to the shields! Try to avoid them!"

Kunrin felt the Desory making a minor course correction to the upper right, but much to his horror the black ships simply copied the move and came into weapon range. Their blue fire came to life, while their dangerous tails fervently wipped through space behind them.

"Fire at the closest one, target their weapons!" Kunrin shouted, tightly clutching the armrest of his chair.

The black expansion was still chasing them, there was no time for a space battle right now. Unfortunately the enemy was probably aware of that fact as well.

The Desory fired a volley of plasma balls, but just before they met their aim, the enemy ship loosened its blue fire. A dazzling bright light accompanied the terrible explosion when the two charges of energy collided. Since Kunrin was forced to shield his eyes against the brightness, the subsequent shockwave took him by surprise, almost throwing him out of his seat.

When he opened his eyes again he realized that their situation was even worse than before. He had hoped that the enemy ships might have been damaged by the shockwave as well, but they seemed to be perfectly fine. Instead the ones who had gotten the worst of the blast had been their own frigates. There were two lifeless wreckages on the screen, which had little in common with the once proud Juraian combat craft. But the time for grief was short, because the enemy's trademark blue flames signalized that the next volley was about to be released.

"Attack the ships!" Kunrin shouted, grasping the danger of the situation. The black ships would fire any second now. "What are you waiting for?" he turned around furiously.

His men were working at their consoles desperately and only one of them dared to return Kunrin's gaze. "The explosion has caused a major overload in the system. We are unable to use the weapons at the moment..." he stared over Kunrin's shoulder at the screen.  
Kunrin's eyes widened in shock when the meaning of the statement registered to his mind. Hastily he turned around. But he only caught a glimpse of the deadly blue plasma fire before it struck the Desory's shields.

The powerful attack needed no more than a heartbeat to penetrate the weakened shield. A minor, almost gentle vibration accompanied the break down and then the deadly assault made contact with the hull. The Desory was shaken violently, the lights started to flicker and the smell of burned circuits spread over the bridge.

When the ship had stopped shaking, Kunrin climbed back into his chair. "Damage report!" he shouted.

"Minor hull breaches in the lower sections! The area is currently being sealed off. No damage to vital systems." The officer made a short pause before he continued. "I just received a report that the weapons are back online."

"Good. This time we will make it," Kunrin said, his words a little less resolute than he had intended. "We just have to disable one ship and use the resulting gap in their formation to break through. So we will concentrate our fire on one of the ships that make up the perimeter. Fire when ready."

A barrage of plasma balls was released by the Desory. They headed directly for the ship in the upper right position. Unfortunately the enemy shifted its position and moved its tail just in time to protect itself from more serious harm. The tail was ripped apart as was a chunk of the ship's lower sections, but its weapon remained functional and was already charging for a counter attack, just like those of the other four ships.

"Cease fire." Kunrin shouted. "I don't want another energy collision. Maximum power to the shields. Now it's our turn to show them our skill at evasion. They will have to recharge after their attack, that's when we strike again."

Kunrin watched the first energy charge loosen from the center ship. It moved much faster then he had expected, but it wasn't headed for the Desory. It went past them and Kunrin groaned when he realized that it must have been directed at the remainder of his squadron, which had taken position behind them. But there was no time to verify the damage, when the other four ships fired as one.

"This is bad, sir," an officer shouted. "We won't be able to evade all of them."

"Try!" Kunrin shouted back, clutching tighter at the armrest of his chair.

The Desory moved in a steep angle up and to the left. Though it must have looked like a slow and labored move in comparison to the incoming enemy fire, it was actually a testimonial of remarkable maneuverability for a ship of such size. One of the blue energy charges missed, another two scratched the shield, but the last one struck home. For a few moments the systems failed due to the momentary power overload and the Desory drifted in space, but then the ship steadied and hurled another volley of heated plasma balls at the enemy. The upper right ship took a couple of direct hits and was literally shattered to pieces.

"Good, only four left." Kunrin announced but was interrupted by the alarmed voice of one of his men.

"Sir, if the expansion keeps growing at the current rate, it will reach us in just under a minute."

Kunrin swore. "Alright," he said forcing his voice to sound calm again, "Then we will have to break through before they move to close the gap. Put all available power to the shields. We are heading for the opening in their formation at maximum speed. If any of our ships are still around, tell them to follow tight."

The Desory accelerated into a mad dash. Kunrin was hoping for the element of surprise to get past the enemy ships before they had fully charged their weapons again. He knew it was a risky gamble, but they had no other choice than to take it.

They had crossed more than half the distance when the black ships attacked, sending four colums of blue energy fire towards the Desory. Kunrin held his breath. He knew they were much too close now to effectively avoid the attacks and he seriously doubted that they could take four impacts in their current condition. Starring at the front screen, his eyes fixed on the incoming energy charges, Kunrin started a silent prayer.

He had not finished the second line, when the combined attack struck the Desory's shields... and dissipated. Kunrin was dumbfounded. There hadn't even been the slightest vibration. It was as if the enemy fire had simply ceased to exist the moment it should have struck them.

"What the...?" Kunrin exclaimed, having regained his speech. "How did we..."

"It wasn't us, sir," the tactical officer explained, obviously more than a little surprised himself.

The view on the front screen changed to that of a medium sized ship leaving their side and engaging the enemy. Kunrin was starting to feel lightheaded. The ship out there was one he would recognize over a distance of a thousand lightyears, for he had dealt with it and its pilot quite a lot and all of these dealings had been exceptionally unpleasant. It was the one Juraian tree-ship that was not controlled by the royal families, but instead by a pirate who was as ruthless as he was deadly. It was the Soto-oh.

"Kagato," Kunrin murmured.

Even before the enemy could charge again, the Soto-oh had destroyed one of the remaining four ships. Its weapons had disabled a second one before Kunrin had recovered from his shock.

"How shall we react, sir?" one of the navigators asked.

"I don't know what he is doing here, but for now we have to use this to our advantage. Keep going towards the location of the Estar at maximum speed."

Despite the outward appearance, which suggested that the pirate had saved them from certain destruction, Kunrin found himself hoping that he would be swallowed by the approaching expansion. Whatever Kagato's reasons were, he couldn't imagine that they were in the interest of the empire. But of course he knew that a pirate who had evaded their grasp for years upon years was not going to be destroyed so easily.

"Call the Soto-oh," he ordered.

A moment later an image of Kagato appeared on the screen. His relaxed posture indicated that he had already retreated from the battle, it was that of a man who had just enjoyed a long but diverting journey. His dark eyes focused on Kunrin and his expression hardened.

"Preceptor," he said, making it sound like an insult and a question at the same time.  
"Kagato," Kunrin didn't even try to hide his disgust, "What are you doing here?"

The pirate did not answer instantly, but when he did a hint of a smile flitted over his face. "It would have been a shame if the flagship of the imperial fleet had been destroyed, wouldn't it?"

Kunrin ignored his words. "What are you doing here?" he repeated with emphasis.

Kagato shrugged, making clear what he thought about the significance of the question. "Upon my arrival I got a tip from a man called Zeidan that you might have some difficulties. Turned out that you really had kind of a situation here." He made a short pause before he went on with faked respect. "Of course I was aware that there was no way a man of your capabilities wouldn't be able to handle it, but since I was around anyway, I thought I might as well give you a hand."

That left Kunrin speechless. This arrogant pirate actually had the guts to suddenly show up on the battlefield, interfere with their operations and then openly humiliate him in front of his crew. However, before the preceptor could get back at him, Kagato spoke up in a more pressing manner.

"More ships are approaching." He seemed to listen for a moment then his dismissive glace met Kunrin again. "We have three minutes to get this over with or you will end up under pressure from both sides. So prepare for battle, Desory."

With these words he closed the connection. Kunrin was about to explode. Being given orders by an outlaw was the peak of disgrace. What was Zeidan doing to turn to someone like him? And why was he here anyway? He was probably acting with some ulterior motive. Kunrin had to take a few deep breaths in order to calm down again.

"Enemy ships incoming!"

Kunrin looked up at the front screen. It showed five of the black ships fast approaching.

"Try to get through to the Estar and ask Zeidan about Kagato's appearance. I want to know what's going on here." The man at the communication console acknowledged with a curt nod. "Alright, I want those weapons ready to fire once they get into range."

The Soto-oh flew directly towards the ships, accelerating all the while. The first enemy fired its weapons even though it was obvious that they weren't fully charged yet. Kagato easily avoided the attack and moved around to attack the ships closest to him.

He was trying to draw their attention on his ship. One could call that heroic, but at the same time one could call it enormous self overestimation. Most likely the second one described Kagato's motivation better, for he had not made himself a name as a feared pirate because he was such a sympathetic and merciful man.

"What are you waiting for?" Kunrin turned towards his men. "Let's show them that we are far from beaten."

Joining the Soto-oh the Desory fired randomly at the huge black ships. This time it was much easier to avoid the enemy counter attacks, which was simply because most of them were directed at the Soto-oh, which they obviously deemed the more dangerous opponent. And they were probably right in that regard. Not only seemed the Soto-oh's weapons by far more effective against them, but also there was actually no sign that their blue energy fire did any harm to the tree ship at all. With fast and unpredictable maneuvers Kagato finally managed to completely disable one of the enemies.

When another discharge of blue energy struck the Soto-oh's flank, the ship suddenly ceased fire. Evading another attack it flew a narrow loop and retreated towards the nebula.

"What is he doing?" Kunrin gasped.

"Sir, more enemy ships are headed our way," the slightly alarmed voice of the tactical officer announced. "They will be in weapon's range in less than two minutes."

"The coward!" Kunrin hissed, "I should have known that he was going to run at the first sign of danger."

* * *

Tenchi parried a quick sword swipe coming from his left and jumped back, out of the range of his opponent. He had already realized that they were pretty evenly matched in speed and power and the masterful skill with which the man made use of his advantage in weaponry was remedied by Tenchi's wings. Even then the Zenarian countered his retreat with a blaster bolt, forcing him to block with his wings and used the small opening to close back in and initiate another series of attacks, which Tenchi parried calmly. He was now using everything his grandfather had told him and somehow the power of Tsunami inside of him helped him to stay calm and thus in control.

But so far he had been unable to gain an advantage over the Zenarian and he was well aware that under the circumstances time was definitely not on his side. Assuming that Ryoko would be able to deal with her opponent there was still Tokimi and when the goddess decided to take action, they would be facing serious trouble.

Then suddenly, almost as if the thought had been a trigger, there was a terrible scream, which seemed to be coming from everywhere at once. Tenchi flinched and this little slip-up might as well have cost him his life. But it didn't, because the scream seemed to have an even greater effect on the Zenarian. He had stopped moving altogether, his weapon frozen in mid-air. Already having half-consciously confirmed that, although female, the scream was not from Ryoko, Tenchi realized that this was an opportunity he couldn't waste. In one resolute motion he plunged his sword into the man's chest.

The Hirian fell without a sound and even before he hit the ground, soldier 8-33 was already past him, running on. There was fire all around him, its smoke darkening the sky and limiting his sight. He knew that if it wasn't for the protective suit he was wearing, he would be killed by the heat, the fumes and the radiation within a matter of minutes. This city was dying and it would never recover, of that there was no doubt.

But unfortunately, the Hirians didn't seem about to realize that. The deafening roar of ships flying overhead and the occasional flash which cut through the fiery clouds told him, that the battle in the sky and in space had lost nothing of its ferocity. As much as he hated to admit it, the Hirians were putting up a formidable fight. Even with their fleet being outnumbered and their cities in flames, they fought on, demonstrating to them again and again, that they weren't about to give up.

Like most of the others, the landing unit 33 had been supposed to set down just outside of the outer perimeter of the city and to invade from there, moving in to attack the powerful ground cannons, which had proven to be extremely hard to destroy from above. But they had been ambushed as soon as they had left the ship and Eight was the only one to make it into the city.

There was no way of contacting the other units, because the radiation from the bombs also disrupted every kind of radio signal. The complete breakdown of the enemy communication network was supposed to render their resistance disorganized and overall ineffective. But then, the Zenarians had to deal with the same limitation in their attack and in situations like this, that would turn into a disadvantage.

For now, Eight had to keep moving. He had been lucky enough not to run into a larger group of enemies so far and with just a little more luck, he might be able join up with another landing unit before he reached the cannon for which he was headed.

Then, all of a sudden, he felt a very strange sensation inside of him, causing him to slow down. It was a most curious feeling, whose meaning he was unable to grasp, although it appeared familiar. Finally he stopped completely and looked around, trying to make out the source of the sensation. There were pieces of rubble, burning buildings and smoke everywhere, cast into an even deeper shade of red by the fire in the sky. Then his eyes came upon a slightly smaller alley, branching off from the main street. Without thinking he turned around and started walking towards it. The strange feeling inside of him seemed to encourage this decision and soon he found himself running down the alley, away from the cannon.

While he ran, the feeling changed, grew stronger and more defined, until he had a pretty good idea what it was. Anxiety. He had no idea where it came from and what it meant, but he knew that something terrible would happen if he didn't hurry.

Suddenly the alley met another street and before Eight realized how reckless he was acting, he had already run out almost to the middle of it. Such behavior in enemy territory could easily cost him his life, but that wasn't important right now. He looked around quickly and almost instantly spotted what might be the source for his bad feeling. A little further up the street there was a Zenarian soldier locked in close combat with a Hirian. But that couldn't be all. Though he had to admit that they knew how to fight, he was still convinced that an ordinary Hirian wouldn't be able to stand up to an imperial soldier in short range. And this assumption was proven once more, as the Zenarian was already getting the upper hand, forcing his opponent back.

His ill feeling only increasing, Eight carefully scanned the area once again. It was then that he realized the true danger. Another Hirian had taken cover behind a larger piece of rubble, invisible for the two combatants and was trying to take aim at the Zenarian with a large blaster rifle. Eight's unit had already found out the hard way, that those rifles worked very well even under the disruptive influence of the radiation.

Right then, the Zenarian struck down his opponent, giving the sniper a clear line of fire. Without thinking, Eight drew one of the throwing knives from his hip and threw it in a single smooth upward motion. The sniper was struck in the back and reared up, making Eight fear for a second, that he would still fire his rifle, but then the weapon slipped from his hands and he fell forward, toppling over the rubble in front of him.

Without sparing the man a second glance, Eight turned to face his comrade and found that he was already running towards him. On closer inspection of the soldier's uniform, he also realized that she was actually a woman and as she got closer, he once again felt a strange sensation inside of him. It was highly unlikely, but not impossible that he knew this woman from somewhere and normally he would have left it at this explanation. But the emotions he suddenly felt were entirely too strong. Whatever it was, there seemed to be something very wrong with him.

Slowly, almost like in a trance, he moved in to meet her. There was an awkward moment when they finally stood in front of each other, because Eight needed all his concentration to fight down the ridiculous urge to embrace this woman and she didn't seem about to say something either. Finally he managed to remind himself that this was a battlefield and the thought helped him to clear his head.

"Eternal reign to the goddess!" He had to shout the greeting in order to be heard over the incredible noise around them.

"Eternal reign!" the woman replied in kind. "I thank you for saving my life, but why are you alone!"

Her voice wasn't like it was supposed to be, although Eight had no idea why he would know how it was supposed to be. He shook his head.

"My unit was wiped out in an ambush right after the landing! They must have seen us coming! I think I'm the only survivor!"

The woman nodded. She must have expected something like this.

"Our landing ship was shot down when the pilot moved in too close to the city! But we had enough time to appoint a meeting place before we jumped out! Let's go!"

With that she turned around and ran, not even looking back to see if Eight was following her. It wasn't necessary either, because he had no choice but to follow her anyway.

Now and then they saw larger enemy patrols passing in the distance and two times the Hirians emerged so close to them that they were almost spotted. Only through luck and perfect teamwork they managed to take cover just in time before those patrols passed by.

In combat, all the Zenarians were turned into soldiers, family becoming comrades, loved ones becoming strangers. No private contacts were allowed to a soldier during a mission and so it was only natural that they were trained to fight together with complete strangers in the field. But Eight felt that his connection to this woman clearly exceeded this level. It was almost like there was an invisible bond between them, allowing them to act almost as one. He had never heard of such a phenomenon. This wasn't natural. Something very strange was going on and even though, right now, it increased their efficiency, he had to be very careful so it wouldn't take the opposite effect at some point.

After a short while without any more close calls, they arrived at what must have been a small park before the bombings. Now it was a wasteland of withered and dried up trees, which looked like they had been dead for centuries and not just a few days. The woman stopped in front of him.

"This is the meeting place! They should be somewhere around here!" she shouted.

Eight was impressed at how resourceful the First of this unit had acted even in a nerve-racking situation like that of his ship being shot down. He had chosen a place that was easily recognizable as a landmark for all members and the trees, as well as the wall by which it was partially surrounded even provided some cover for those who where waiting in the unlikely event that they were spotted by the Hiraians in here.

The two of them moved on. They had to search the rather large area for some time until they finally found the Zenarian force. It was much larger than Eight had expected. At least 20 soldiers had taken positions along the outer wall close to an opening that seemed to lead outside. The men tensed as they saw them, but quickly relaxed somewhat, when they realized that they weren't the enemy. A tall man gestured them to come over, but to avoid stepping into the sight of the opening. They did as they were told, although it meant that they had to go around quite a bit.

When they finally reached him, they saluted and greeted him in unison.

"Eternal reign to the goddess!"

"Victory to the Chosen empire!" He shouted in response. "I am the 57th First! What's your identification and status?"

"Soldier 5-57 reports back to service, sir!" the woman answered first.

"Soldier 8-33. The rest of the 33rd unit was wiped out completely in an ambush at the landing site!" Eight explained.

"Very well! You may take the place of a fallen comrade in my unit! From now on, you are soldier 8-57!"

"Thank you, sir!" Eight said, and saluted again.

"The goddess be thanked that you came!" the First countered unexpectedly. "We need every hand right now! We have been able to join up with the unit 51 and with the addition of the two of you, our force is now counting 24!" He made a short pause, giving them a chance to take in what he was telling them. "But an enemy force of over 30 has holed up in front of that building!"

He pointed towards the opening in the wall and a middle-sized building across from it, which seemed to be one of the few that weren't burning yet. Judging by the distance, it was probably separated from the park by a street or a square and that must be where the enemy force had taken position.

"They know that we are here, but we don't have the time to avoid them by going around, so we will blow up the wall and take them in a surprise charge! The detonators are already in place and the men are waiting for the signal! Take positions there..." He pointed to a spot right next to the entrance. "... and there!" Another spot on the other side of the opening. "Be prepared! The enemy force has to be wiped out completely!"

"May the goddess guide us!" Eight and Five shouted in confirmation, before they went to take their positions.

Eight went for the spot on the other side of the entrance, meaning that he had to go around or he would risk getting in the enemy's line of fire. When he finally took his place, his mind was prepared for combat. There were only two options now, to die, or to win glory for the goddess. He looked at the First, who had already raised his hand, prepared to give the signal. The men around him drew their weapons and Eight did the same.

Then the First's hand came down and the detonators went off. They were based on sonic technology and designed specially for field use, so they wouldn't produce any obstructive explosion, but instead blow the wall into pieces, which went flying in the direction of the enemy, allowing them to charge in their cover. And charge they did. From one second to the other, the square on the other side of the wall was turned into a battlefield.

Some of the Hirians were on their positions behind larger pieces of debris, or fallen vehicles, but others had been caught off guard by the attack and were struck down where they were standing by pieces of wall and Zenarian knives. Blaster shots were fired and the man to the right of Eight went down. Then they were upon them, engaging the Hirians in close combat.

In passing Eight struck down a man who hadn't been fast enough to abandon his rifle for an energy sword and attacked another, whose fighting was clumsy at best. The man went down in a matter of seconds, but was instantly replaced by two others. These were better and Eight might have found himself in serious trouble, if not one of them had been struck down by another Zenarian soldier. The death of his comrade sapped the remaining man's fighting spirit and he followed suit, felled by Eight's blade.

The victory gave him a little time to catch his breath, but he immediately looked around for another opponent. The whole square was drowning in chaos and though right then it seemed like the Zenarians had the advantage, it was impossible to tell if they were going to win this fight. Suddenly Eight caught a strange movement in the corner of his eye. He was standing rather close to the entrance of the building in front of which the battle was taking place and what he had seen was a shadow moving somewhere inside.

This was bad. If there were Hirian snipers hiding inside, they might cause them some serious trouble. Not wasting another second, Eight moved in for the entrance. Drawing a knife from his belt, he entered the building, unnoticed in the commotion around him.

As soon as he had entered, he moved out of the light cast inside by the entrance, which rendered him clearly visible for anyone hiding inside. At first he was having trouble seeing in the darkness, because his eyes had gotten used to the flickering brightness of flames, but even though his ears were still ringing from the terrible noise outside, he could hear something. The sounds emanating from the darkness were most discomforting. Ragged breathing from not only one, but multiple sources, agonized moans and silent sobbing.

Finally his eyes had accustomed enough to the dark to make out some shapes and he was greeted by a most unexpected sight. A dozen ragged figures were huddled against the far wall of what must once have been the lobby of this building. None of them seemed to be wearing protective suits and the radiation was slowly eating away at their bodies, turning them into pale shadows of what they once were. Some were already dead.

Eight was appalled. These weren't soldiers. He knew that the Hirian society distinguished between military and civilian population, after all this was what made it so instable and dangerous, but he had never actually seen such a civilian with his own eyes. The military education of any young Zenarian started immediately after being raised to age in special nurseries and he would automatically receive the lowest rank, becoming an active member of the fleet, the living, beating heart of their civilization. During his life he would have the chance to increase his rank through merits and hopefully die as a general or maybe even direct subject to the goddess.

And right now there would be plenty of chances, for the entire fleet had been mobilized to attack the home world of their most dangerous enemy in order to force a decision. Each and every Zenarian who knew how to hold a weapon participated in the fighting in one way or the other.

But here, in front of him, were people who had never seen combat, who probably didn't even know how to fight. They were pathetic and he would probably have done them a favor if he put them out of their misery right then, but he hesitated. Killing unarmed people was against the individual honor code of a Zenarian soldier. They were the enemy and yet they were not. They were Hirians and yet he couldn't kill them.

He made a step towards the crowd, causing them to huddle together even closer, and stopped again. To say that he was confused by this situation would have been an understatement.

Ultimately, the decision was taken off him. A strange sound suddenly started to mix in the noise from outside, quickly growing in volume. After two seconds it was already drowning out all the other sounds, becoming unbearable. But before Eight even had a chance to raise his hands to his ears in reflex, there was an earthshaking bang and he was thrown off his feat. He didn't hit the ground however, since at that instant an incredible force struck him in the back and he was catapulted through the room. The last thing he saw was a wall racing towards him.

* * *

At first there was only pain. Every part of his body was aching terribly, making him wonder if that was what death actually felt like. He tried to open his eyes and regretted doing it a second later, when a powerful wave of nausea forced him to close them again. For a while he had to concentrate just on fighting down the powerful urge to vomit right there. After he was somewhat confident that he had accomplished this, he focused on calming his breathing and clearing his head.

He hadn't seen much when he had opened his eyes, but together with his other senses it was enough to make him realize that he was currently in a sitting position, slumped against a wall. Judging from the pain in his limbs, there was a high probability that some, if not all of them were seriously damaged. However, there was only one way to find out for sure.

Bracing himself for the consequences, he tried to open his eyes once more. As expected, another wave of nausea followed, but this time he didn't give in to it. Instead he carefully turned his head to look down at himself. The movement made the dizziness increase for a second, so he almost feared that he would lose consciousness again, but then it receded to a more bearable level.

It seemed like he had been lucky. His legs were partly buried under some rubble that must have fallen from the ceiling, or the wall behind him, but none of the pieces was large enough to actually have smashed them. Now this might not be what most people considered luck, but taking into account the state of the rest of the room it was. More than half of the entire ceiling had come down and obviously not only on this floor, because in some places there were piles of rubble larger than a man. Most of the facade on the side from which he had entered seemed to be gone as well. All in all it was a small miracle that the building was still holding together. There was no trace of the civilians he had seen before, so he guessed that they hadn't been as lucky.

Carefully he tried to move his right arm, which was extremely painful, but worked. He tried the left, but this one remained limp at his side. For now he would have to do with one arm. Slowly he pushed himself up a little and started clearing the rubble from his legs.

As small as it might have seemed, in his current condition this was a long and excruciating task. When he was finally done and checked his legs for injuries, he realized that he might not have been as lucky as he first thought. The nausea and dizziness he was feeling wasn't a result of the damage he had taken from his collision with the wall. There was a palm sized hole in his protective suit at knee level. He didn't know how long he had been unconscious but judging by his feeling, there was a very good chance that he had already gotten a lethal dose of radiation.

But he couldn't give up yet. If he was going to die, he would accept it like every Zenarian soldier, but before that, there was something he still needed to do. Gathering all the strength that was left in his torn body, he pushed himself up along the wall and stood. His vision blurred and the world around him started to swim. He swayed and almost fell, until he finally got a hold of himself and fought it down.

Drawing strength from a mysterious source deep inside of him, he pushed himself off the wall and slowly started moving into the direction of the crumbled facade. He was now certain that he didn't have much time left. In his condition it was strange that he had woken at all, instead of simply slipping over into the cool embrace of death. Something had woken him. He didn't know what it was, but he knew that he couldn't die before he hadn't accomplished this last objective.

It was this knowledge that kept him going, helped him climb over the large piles of rubble in his way and finally made him stagger out onto the square... and into hell.

Where there had been a large open space littered with debris and destroyed vehicles there was now an enormous crater that even extended to swallow up some of the park through which they had entered. Inside was a molten mass that had lost all resemblance to the elegant and deadly Zenarian space fighters, but Eight knew that it was one of them.

At least this explained the shockwave that had knocked him out. With the others fighting outside on the square, it was also very likely, that he was the only survivor...

He wondered how the fighter had ended up crashing into the city. Since they were supposed to engage the enemy fleet in space, not entering the atmosphere, he had probably been damaged and pulled in by the planets gravitation. It seemed a little strange, but not impossible.

Only when his thoughts returned to the battle like this, Eight realized that it was entirely too quiet. The fires were still burning, dyeing the night sky above the city bloody red, but the deafening sounds of heavy cannons and other ground based weaponry, as well as enemy fighters flying overhead were gone. Since there wouldn't be any ceasefire between Zenarians and Hiraians, this could mean only one thing. The city was dead.

But that wasn't all. The battle in space was so enormous, it should have been easily visible from the surface at night, and yet there was nothing. The fleet of Zenar had surrounded the entire planet, so he should have been able to spot at least one of their gigantic mother ships, and yet he saw nothing.

A strange fear mounting inside of him, he closed his eyes and listened to his heart. If only they mustered up enough concentration, every Zenarian would be able to draw strength from the presence of their goddess inside of them.

Right now, however, concentrate as he might, he didn't feel a thing. It could have been because of exhaustion, because the pain disturbed his concentration, or because of a million other reasons, but somewhere deep within himself he knew that none of that was the case. Even though it went against all his beliefs as a Zenarian, he knew that she was gone, that this was the end. They had carried out the will of their goddess and destroyed the enemy, but at a terrible price.

Suddenly feeling terribly drained, Eight broke to his knees and had use his hands to prevent himself from falling completely. The war was over. There was nothing to fight for anymore. They had suffered defeats before, but never a major one and always had their goddess been there to help them rebuilt. Now it was different. The entire fleet of Zenar was in shambles and their goddess had left them. There was no future for the Zenarians, no reason for him to live on.

He wished he had died in the crash like the others, so he would have been spared this torment, but there was something inside of him, a strange awareness, that wanted him to see all this. And even now, this will refused him death, forced him to mobilize reserves that he wasn't supposed to have and to push himself up once more. The reason he had come out here wasn't to witness the collapse of the Zenarian empire, but something entirely different, something personal.

While he slowly moved around the crater, keeping his eyes open for any sign of life, he wondered how this could be possible, but the thought quickly slipped from his mind, replaced by a powerful wave of concern. He needed to find her and see if she was alright.

He was well aware that the chances of her still being alive were slim, after all everything in the closer vicinity of the impact had been instantly incinerated and the shockwave had torn into the surrounding buildings with a rage. But he wasn't about to give her up that easily. He couldn't die until he had certainty and so he staggered on.

He had almost reached the other side of the crater, when he found her. She was leaning against a part of the park wall, which was miraculously still standing, her suit torn in various places and her body littered with terrible burns. He wanted to shout her name, but strangely he didn't seem to remember it.

It took him a while to cross the distance which separated them, his anxiety increasing with every step, until it threatened to overwhelm him, but he just utilized it to keep pushing on even faster. Not until he had finally reached her, he allowed himself a closer look at her condition. It didn't take a doctor to realize that with wounds like this, she should have been dead by all means. But she wasn't. Her chest was heaving with every labored breath, but she was awake. And she was looking up at him.

Slowly, almost without any conscious effort, his hands moved up to his helmet. He knew that if he took it off, it would shorten his remaining time considerably, but that didn't matter now. They removed their helmets almost synchronously, never taking their eyes off the other. And as he found himself looking into her face, framed by beautiful cyan hair, Tenchi remembered who he was.

Suddenly a thunderous noise caught their attention and ended the moment. They looked up at the night sky, to see a Hirian transporter rise towards space, followed by a Zenarian landing ship.

They watched the two ships, until they disappeared into the darkness and when he turned back to look at her, the determination in Ryoko's eyes reflected Tenchi's feeling. They knew what they had to do.

And the illusion shattered.

* * *

They are dead.  
Their time has long since passed. They should never have been awoken again. Yet they have. And they possess a powerful weapon. Invincibility.

"Yes, but not against your kind," Azusa said, his voice filled with grim satisfaction.

He leant back in his wooden chair and gazed at the screen in front of him. The battle raging outside had slowed down. Most of the enemy ships had been destroyed by now and the few still attacking would meet the same fate within the next minutes.

Yet Azusa was still deeply shocked about how this whole affair had turned out. After Kagato's wry tip to better hurry, the royal fleet had headed with maximum speed towards the Estar's position and they didn't arrive a second too soon. By then, Azusa had already been warned by multiple transmissions from Zeidan, but nevertheless when Kirito reached the battlefield, he couldn't believe what was happening there.

The few ships of Zeidan's fleet taking part in the fierce battle were slightly outnumbered by black tadpole-like ships, yet they were, as expected, clearly superior. Azusa watched the destruction of at least three of the enemy ships during his approach. He had wondered at this time, why Zeidan had been so desperate about their situation. It was Kirito who had made him aware of the seriousness.

Invincibility.

The Estar had destroyed not a single enemy ship. What had looked like the dead wreckages of broken ships merged together again, forming a new vessel ready to attack. And while Zeidan's fleet was taking more and more damage, the enemy once destroyed was simply awoken to new life.

Azusa watched an enemy ship passing through his line of fire. Kirito accelerated slightly and fired. Struck by a glaring ray of light the black ship was wrapped into glowing brightness and disappeared, never to come back to life again.

It was a mystery to the emperor why only the tree-ships were able to seriously damage the enemy, yet he was deeply relieved by the fact. It proved that they were not putting up a useless fight against a godlike force like it had seemed when the royal ships had arrived. There was no doubt in Azusa's mind now that these ships were the vanguard of a powerful army waiting to conquer the Juraian empire. It had been lying asleep for centuries, forgotten by most men, turned into a myth by other.

Only he himself had truly known about the enormous power slumbering beyond the prayer grounds, and even he had underestimated the danger. Right after the start of this whole mess he should have taken every measure to secure the stolen book. His best chance had been the sudden appearance of this Masaki boy, but unfortunately Achika had to put all her trust in him and let him escape. By doing this she had practically placed the fate of the entire Juraian empire in his hands. Now it was getting obvious that her decision had been wrong. The Juraian fleet was facing what was possibly its greatest threat in history and Masaki, who was among those responsible for this whole situation, had probably already gone into hiding somewhere far from danger. The thought filled Azusa with rage.

"We head for the planet," he almost shouted, "It's no use keeping the whole fleet occupied here. The Preceptor might need our help as well. So two tree-ships shall stay behind and after they have destroyed every single one of these things they shall catch up."

In fact Azusa was not sure if Kunin's fleet had survived. Neither the Tayson nor the Desory were answering his calls. He only knew that Kagato was still alive for the destruction of his tree-ship would have been noticed by Kirito.

And while the mightiest ship of the empire accelerated towards the planet faintly visible in the distance, Azusa hoped that the Soto-oh was lending the two flag ships a hand, although he doubted that this was what Kagato had in mind.

The wave front spreading out in front of the Soto-oh could only be described as an accumulation of various shades of grey and black which were fighting over supremacy in constant seething motion. It somewhat reminded Kagato of some of the fiercer thunderstorms he had witnessed back during his days on Jurai. But he knew that this phenomenon was much more dangerous than the well-controlled weather changes on his home planet.

Since Soto-oh couldn't detect the other heavy cruiser anywhere, he assumed that it had already fallen victim to the perverted expansion. Now that he was here, he wouldn't let it destroy the Desory as well. It was not that Kagato cared about the Preceptor or the crew. He just felt challenged.

The Soto-oh let him know that they were close enough. Kagato made it stop and fired. A greenish glowing ball of energy made contact with the outer layers of the seething gray and at first it looked like the attack would simply pass through without doing any kind of damage, but then the glow brightened like a fuse that had caught fire. Within seconds it spread, running along invisible lines, drawing a shining white pattern of fascinating beauty. As fast as it had started, the spectacle came to an end, leaving nothing but a small hole which was almost instantly closed by the surrounding clouds.

Hoping for a greater effect, Kagato fired an entire volley of shots into the approaching maelstrom. They set a larger area alight, but otherwise the result was the same. The nebula kept expanding, finally forcing the Soto-oh to retreat. The space pirate experienced an unusual feeling of frustration. He leant back in his seat and stared at the front screen. Obviously even the powerful Soto-oh couldn't deal any lasting damage to this expansion.

Then again this wasn't too much of a surprise, since the enemy fleet and this phenomenon must have been created by Yosho, who was using the divine power of the goddess Tsunami. This, in turn, meant that Yuro had failed. As had he.

"There's nothing more we can do here," Kagato stated indifferently.

The Soto-oh, which had used reverse thrusters to stay away from the nebula up to now, flew a narrow loop in front of the approaching wave front and accelerated.

"We're not going to stand this any longer!" The frantic voice was barely hearable over the sounds of blowing circuits and dropping metal pieces. Seconds later a fire broke out in the backwards section, spreading acrid smoke all over the bridge.

"There are only four left." Kunrin shouted, his voice angry. "We are not going to give up!"

Another hard impact shook the ship. This time even Kunrin was thrown out of his seat. Sounds of displays shattering and little explosions came to his ear. Then there was a thunderous crack followed by horrified screams.

When the tremors finally died down, Kunrin quickly got to his feet. The air was filled with black smoke and some of the lights had faded, but he could see the outline of a large metal girder lying on the ground and the body of at least one officer beneath it. Nobody could afford the time to check whether he was still alive.

"Sir, they hit our front cannons, energy of the auxiliary weapons is down to 60 percent"  
"The last attack reached our engine. Our maximum speed is reduced by one quarter now."

More damage reports were shouted but Kunrin barely heard them. He stared at the screen, his eyes fastened on the four black ships. While one of them was slowly falling behind, blue fire was already starting to glow at the fronts of the others. It was strange, but Kunrin was almost relieved that he was going to loose his life by the enemies' weapons and not through assimilation by the mysterious expansion that must be only minutes away. He had encouraged his men not to give up but he was not fool enough not to notice when a battle was lost.

Kunrin knew that his officers were waiting for further orders now, hoping that there was something they could do to avoid the unavoidable. But with the drive's energy almost gone and only 60 percent of weapons power left, there was no viable order he could think of.

It was then that the Soto-oh reappeared. But Kunrin's attention was quickly drawn from Kagato's ship to the fourth black ship which had fallen back for no obvious reason. It was slowly vanishing now, engulfed by a dark grey mass. The wave front was coming.

The Soto-oh was literally chased by it. Even though the pirate managed to increase the distance and even made a half-hearted attempt to fire at the remaining black ships, he was too far away to effectively interrupt their charging sequence. All three ships released their energy fire.

Kunrin saw the furious blue columns racing at him and knew that this was definitely the end.

A bright whirl of colors enveloped the Desory. Chilling screams filled the bridge, followed by a deafening noise. Kunrin shut his eyes tight and took one last deep breath. Then time stood still.

At least that was what Kunrin was thinking at this very moment, for nothing happened. There was no pain. Only when he realized that the people around him were no longer screaming but cheering, he opened his eyes and gasped.

Tree-ships had gathered all around the Desory. The hyperspace portal was so close, that the ground under his feet was still trembling when more and more of the mighty royal ships emerged.

Together with the Soto-oh they moved to form a net between the Desory and the nebula. Within seconds the last ship was in position and, as if they were a single entity, all tree-ships opened fire at once.

An intricate pattern spread out all over the surface of the seething expansion. Like rivers of light the energy found its way, randomly merging and departing to create new paths. A second volley was fired and the brightness increased. More and more pathways were created and some areas, where the superfluous energy couldn't be absorbed anymore, were already completely engulfed in the brilliant light. By now the brightness was almost too much to bear, but the scene was just too fascinating for Kunrin to avert his gaze. Through narrowed eyes he watched a third salve being fired and this one finally tore the nebula apart. Then, all of a sudden, the whole space started to change.

The remaining black patches started drawing together with incredible speed. Where they met they merged with each other to form a homogeneous pitch black mass. Faster than the eye could follow a bipartite structure of more than twenty times the size of the Desory had taken form and it was still growing.

The incoming particles were now shaping strange protrusions on the surface of the two parts of the main body and inscribed mystical patterns on them. At the same time, the interconnection between the two partitions started to emit a pale blue glow. However, the blue shine was immediately covered up by another solid layer of black particles, which reinforced the comparatively slim centerpiece. Finally the last particles that had remained floating up to now attached themselves at four opposing spots in the center of the upper and lower side of the two main parts respectively. Within seconds two different distinct structures took shape on either side.

One of them carried a frightening semblance to the weaponry of the ships they had fought just a few seconds ago, though it was of entirely different proportions. By Kurin's estimation the size of the weapon alone easily equalled that of a tree-ship. The other structure looked somewhat like the antiquated satellite dishes which were still used for communication by some backward species. But he had never seen a parabolic reflector of such a ridiculous size and somehow he had his doubts that this thing was a communication device. With some concern he noted that both reflectors seemed to be directed at their fleet.

For some moments the black monster of a ship just lay threateningly in space, then the two main cannons started to charge up energy. It was a sight that looked very much like the charging sequence of the smaller ships, only at the scale of those gargantuan weapons it appeared infinitely more terrifying.

"Scatter! Now!" the emperor shouted over the com and the tree-ships started to break formation almost instantly.

But it was already too late. An enormous discharge of bluish white energy shot from each of the two cannons and in a display that was as graceful as it was deadly they raced along the hull of the ship, striking the reflectors at the opposite part within the blink of an eye. But instead of ripping the entire construction apart, the rampant energy was redirected at their fleet. Lacking the space for evasion, two of the tree-ships which were still in formation were destroyed instantly.

His face reflecting his deep terror Kunrin stared at the thing on the screen. This wasn't just another enemy ship, this was a killing machine.

* * *

Ryoko opened her eyes and found herself looking into Tenchi's face. He was smiling, as she knew she was as well. A wonderful warm feeling was spreading through her body and she knew he felt the same. Their connection exceeded mere trust and understanding. During their mutual adventure, the powers of Tsunami and Washu had somehow helped forging some kind of special bond between them, which allowed them to exchange their feelings.

Never before in her life had Ryoko felt so complete. It was a perfect moment, but unfortunately it was cut short by the scream of an angry goddess.

"Why? Why are you still alive when they died? Why did you survive when all of my children died there?"

Ryoko felt that Tenchi was about to say something and tried her best to mentally encourage him, to let him now that he didn't have to face the wrath of the maddened goddess by himself.

"You are wrong," he said firmly. "The battle of Hirai wasn't the end of the Zenarian civilisation."

Upon hearing this, a most frightening change occurred in Tokimi's expression. It suddenly went from anger to stunned realization.

"Yes, yes! You are right. They are returning right now. My children are finally returning to reclaim their rightful place." If there had been any doubt that her mind had been corrupted by hatred, the way she said this definitely cleared it.

"No." Ryoko shook her head. "I don't know how you did this trick, but those are certainly no Zenarians."

Tokimi's expression darkened and she seemed about to say something, but Tenchi beat her at it.

"The descendants of your children are those you are trying to destroy. They are the Juraians."

At first, the goddess showed no reaction at all, until she suddenly started to laugh. It was a dark and threatening sound.

"Seriously, I expected the lies of my sisters to be a little more intricate," she said, still smiling dangerously.

"It's not a lie," Tenchi dared. "We realized it in the illusion you showed us. When the battle of Hirai was finally over, there was nothing left to fight for on either side. The world of the Hiraians was made uninhabitable and the Zenarian home-fleet was all but destroyed. Some might have fought on anyway, but others probably realized that by fighting on there was nothing to be gained anymore. Also, the survivors of both sides must have realized, that they didn't have the resources left to find themselves a new home, so they forged a temporary pact, to search for a world on which they could settle and plant the seeds of Tsunami..."

"A very touching story indeed," Tokimi interrupted. "I guess it was made up by Tsunami. She was always good at such things."

"Tsunami and Washu told us nothing!" Ryoko stepped forward, feeling a surge of irritation. "What Tenchi told you he figured out by himself when he was a Zenarian during and after the final battle. It's not just a story or mere speculation, it's the truth. The clues are out there..." She made a furious gesture with her hand. "... you only need to look. There's the Juraian swordsmanship, which has many elements of the Zenarian style. Then there's the honor code of the Juraian knights, which resembles the Zenarian soldier code."

"If they merged with the Zenarians, it would also explain how the apparently democratic Hirian society could turn into a devoted monarchy after the war," Tenchi added.

"Utter nonsense. None of this proves your ridiculous story," Tokimi said through gritted teeth. It wasn't difficult to see that she was seething with anger, which certainly was a terrifying sight, but Ryoko knew that they couldn't stop now.

"It's true. Hell, just look at Tenchi! Yeah, he might wield the same power like the man who sealed you back then, but he's also partially Zenarian. You call them your children and you don't even realize when one of them is standing right in front of you? A fine goddess you are!"

"Enough!" Tokimi thundered, making both of them flinch. "I'm tired of your lies for good. The Hiraians will feel the wrath of my children and nobody is going to stop us."

"We can't allow you to attack Jurai," Tenchi said, activating his energy blade.

"If you're not going to listen, we'll just have to do it the hard way," Ryoko added, summoning her own sword.

"Very well. I was going to start with you anyway."

With that she stretched out her arms to her sides and summoned a whole array of glowing black wings. Ryoko counted at least ten of them, but even before she could confirm the number, the goddess grabbed one of the wings in front of her with each hand, transforming them into two terrible energy blades of pure darkness.

Once the blades had formed completely, she raised them over her head, where they formed a cross for a second, and then slashed the air in front of her in two totally synchronous downward curves. This simple demonstration was enough to make Ryoko realize that they were dealing with a master in the art of double bladed sword fighting. And that was exactly how far the pirate got in the analysis of their opponent, because Tokimi's movement didn't stop when her swords had reached their final position, pointing to the ground behind her on either side. Instead she used the momentum to throw herself at them with impossible speed.

The next second they were locked in combat, Ryoko and Tenchi being forced back by the sheer ferocity of her attack. The goddess moved with a speed and precision that Ryoko found hard to keep up with, even if she used her new powers to the limit. Only a few seconds had passed since the battle had started and already she had had to use her wings several times, to block attacks that had penetrated her defense. Each time she did this, a sharp pain flared through her entire body. She wouldn't be able to keep this up for long.

Unfortunately, Tenchi didn't seem to be faring any better and so they were slowly but surely forced back. Ryoko feared that they might, at some point, trip over the edge of the platform, but luckily her worries proved unfounded as they finally left the circular section and stepped out onto one of the four walkways connected to it. Right then, the goddess pushed both of them back once more with another vicious swipe and jumped into the air, flying back out of their range.

This was a rather strange move, since she only would had to have pressed her advantage in order to crush them. Ryoko was about to follow her, when she felt Tenchi's hesitation and understood. They still didn't know the true extent of their opponents power, meaning that a careless attack might cost them. He wanted to wait for her to make the next move.

Meanwhile Tokimi had retreated further so she was now hovering directly over the center of the circular platform. She raised one of her swords and Ryoko tensed. Whatever she was going to do, it wouldn't be good. The sword fell, slashing the air in front of the goddess with an odd sound and at first it seemed like nothing happened, but then the pirate felt a sudden spike of alarm from Tenchi and instinctively jumped back. Not a second too soon. Something struck the ground where she had been standing and cleaved through it like it was butter.

However, it didn't end there. Its connection to the center platform all but severed, the floating walkway was loosing stability and the ground beneath their feet was starting to disintegrate. Without a second thought, Ryoko kicked off into the air, as did Tenchi, just before a huge part of the pathway came loose and fell into the watery depths.

Feeling that this was the right time for a counterattack, the pirate flew directly at the hovering form of Tokimi, firing energy blasts all the way. Tenchi was mimicking her maneuver with astonishing synchronicity, but it seemed like all of their attacks were simply absorbed into the goddess' black wings without doing any damage.

When it became clear that they weren't getting through, they stopped their attacks and split up, each circling around a little in order to simultaneously strike from two different angles. Tokimi didn't move to prevent the pincer. In fact she didn't move to protect herself at all, even as Ryoko reached her and struck with all her might. The sword thundered against one of the black wings that had shifted in place and the next thing the pirate knew was that she was thrown back with violent force.

She found it impossible to control her flight and within a second she had crossed the entire hall and slammed into one of the walls with enough power to leave a small crater. Dazed by the impact she had to refocus her vision, only to find a blast of dark energy soaring towards her. It struck the wall the same instant she teleported away.

Rematerializing in what she thought to be a safe distance, Ryoko could still feel the shockwave of the explosion. This certainly was some impressive firepower. She looked around, but couldn't make out Tenchi anywhere. Worry threatened to overtake her, but then, she told herself, if something serious had happened to him, she would have certainly felt it through their bond. Suddenly another energy blast came flying at her, which she barely managed to dodge. This time the impact occurred closer behind her and she was thrown forward by the shockwave. Out of lack of a better strategy, she used the additional momentum and directed her flight back towards the center platform, above which Tokimi was still hovering.

However, she hadn't crossed half the distance, when she suddenly felt a movement below her. She tried to dodge to the side, but it was too late. A pillar of boiling hot water shot up, enveloping her. The heat was incredible, making her feel like she was burning alive. Exercising incredible self-control, she managed to teleport away after no more than a couple of seconds.

Fortunately, her clothes had shielded her from the worst, but the heat had all but drained her strength and when she rematerialized, she was suddenly unable to sustain herself any longer. Like a stone she dropped out of the air and plummeted towards the pool below. That in itself wouldn't have been so bad, but at some point, which she had missed, the water must have been heated almost to the boiling point, making the prospect of falling in there much less inviting. She tried to control her drop or teleport away, but she was still too weak. Finally she closed her eyes, awaiting the inevitable pain that was to follow.

It never came. Instead she was swept up just before she hit the surface and when she opened her eyes, she found herself looking into Tenchi's face. He had come to safe her. The draining, deadly heat that had paralyzed her body was suddenly replaced by an entirely different kind of warmth, which felt pleasant and refreshing.

They flew up and landed on one of the walkways. Tenchi released Ryoko and she was slightly surprised to find that she had already recovered enough strength to stand on her own.

"Are you all right," he asked, his voice edged with worry.

"Yeah, I think so," the pirate answered. "Thanks."

A slight blush appeared on Tenchi's features, but before she had a chance to tease him about it, Tokimi ended the moment.

"By now you should have realized that you cannot stop me. I'm finally growing tired of this pathetic struggle. I think I will end it now."

The two of them looked up, to see her gathering another ball of dark matter. Only this one was much bigger than the ones she had thrown at Ryoko and it was still growing. She was preparing for an attack that would be powerful enough to devastate the entire chamber and just as she had said, there seemed to be nothing they could do about it.

* * *

Azusa had made a quick decision and ordered all tree-ships to gather upside the enemy vessel. That way they would at least stay out of range of the weapon on the lower side. When Kirito accelerated towards the giant mirror, Azusa watched half of the fleet heading off in the opposite direction.

Simply out of lack of a better target he had decided to attack the primary weapon system, but since he didn't know on what scale they would be able to inflict damage on it, his idea was to split up the fleet, so one part would attack the main cannon, hopefully making it difficult for the reflector to lock on to them without risking harm to the ship itself. Meanwhile he was going to lead the attack on the mirror.

The ceaseless assault by the enemy's secondary weapons hardly even stung Kirito's powerful shields, but Azusa knew that even if they were able to take out its main cannons, this mammoth's stamina would still outlast them by far. Wherever it had come from, there was no doubt that this was the enemy mothership. The mothership of a fleet that had been created by the power of Tsunami slumbering at the prayer grounds. Even if they somehow managed to overcome this opponent, Azusa had no idea if there actually was a limit to the power of the goddess, or if they would just keep at creating more ships.

But right now his options were limited to fighting and so he concentrated again on the task at hand. His glance moved over to where, in some distance, the mighty construction was lying in wait for its prey. The first strike had been shockingly efficient, but up to now the weapon hadn't fired again. Hopefully this was because it needed some time to recharge, giving them a chance to start their counteroffensive.

Now that he was getting closer, Azusa was getting a better look at the reflector. By the way it captured the light of the stars it could be considered a beautiful work of art, but he had already learned that this beauty was a deception. He told his ships to initiate immediate evasive maneuvers if the weapon reacted to their presence.

When Kirito had already half circled the reflector, Azusa gave the order to attack. The tree-ships, having stayed in loose formation behind the emperor's ship so far, spread out and started to fire at the construction. For some time space was lit up by bright rays of light.

"You're sure we are out of range of this cannon?" Zeidan asked skeptically, when the cruiser Estar was slowing down.

"Not sure about that, captain," an officer answered. "We can't estimate the reflector's movement radius. But if we're lucky, the attacking tree-ships will be its primary aim."

"Let's hope so," he said carefully and sat down in his seat again. "Nevertheless, keep an eye on it," he added, gazing at the front screen.

Most of it was occupied by a close up view of the alien ornaments decorating the black ship's hull by now, but in the upper left corner Zeidan could still see a ray of white energy every now and then. Be it the makings of a coward, as a family man he had always valued his life above duty, so he didn't really regret the emperor's decision to not include them in either of the main attack forces. But actually there was no telling if the task bestowed upon them was any less dangerous. The emperor had ordered the two battle-ridden war cruisers to stay behind and attack the apparently less protected junction that connected the two main partitions of the enemy ship. Even with their combined fire power Zeidan found it unlikely that they would be able to deal any serious damage to this thing and the emperor probably knew this as well, but like this they would at least stay out of the gist of it.

In order to stay out of the range of the primary weapons on the upper and lower side as much as possible, the Estar had moved in rather close to the central part of the black ship. Zeidan could now see that the intersection between the ship's two partitions was well structured. Parallel to the main extension of the ship, arcs of darker metal extended in a semi oval shape. In between the arcs, the material seemed lighter, almost perforated. These intermediate areas appeared to be significantly less stable than the arcs, making them a reasonable target. As if to confirm Zeidan's train of thought, a couple of red plasma balls moved past the Estar and struck the structure right in front of them.

"Alright," Zeidan announced. "Let's take this as an order from the Preceptor."

"Good work!" Kunrin said with emphasis.

Sitting upright in his seat, he watched one after another red energy blast hitting the target area. Even though there didn't seem to be any kind of energy shield protecting the surface, it hadn't looked like they were causing any damage at first. But with the last two volleys tiny cracks had started to appear in the material.

The Desory trembled under a particularly fierce attack by the enemy's secondary weapons. Those seemed to be less powerful versions of the energy weapons equipped on the ships they had fought before. Kunrin assumed that they were meant as a supplementary defense system against smaller fighter craft attacking on close range, allowing the main cannon to blast away at any larger enemy ships. If this monster of a ship operated together with an entire fleet, he realized much to his dismay, it would be virtually invincible.

"Concentrate on these spots and fire with all we have left," he ordered.  
Since the Desory had already taken some very serious damage and the condition of the shields was instable at best, they had to stay in the cover of the Estar to reduce the risk of taking a critical hit. Even so they were still taking some punishment and it was only a matter of time until the shields failed again, leaving them completely vulnerable.

Kunrin watched how another volley was fired by his ship and struck the enemy, almost instantly followed by more shots from the Estar. The blasts made violent contact with the surface, creating another deep fissure in the material which spread almost over the entire target area.

"Focus all attacks on this breach!" Zeidan ordered, clenching his fists.

He hoped that it would be enough. It was a small miracle anyway, that the combined attacks by the Desory and the Estar had actually left an impression on the alien structure. The Estar was trembling under enemy fire, but Zeidan hardly noticed as he watched a couple of shots striking home into the rift in the giant ship's armor, to be instantly followed by more blasts from the Desory. The breach spread and deepened, but the material still held.

"Another volley!" Zeidan shouted and tensed in his seat.

The blasts were fired and when the last one met its aim something happened. Starting at the point of impact more shallow cracks appeared and quickly spread over the entire target area. Within a matter of seconds the section of hull between the arcs shattered into a million pieces. The remains were drawn out into open space, leaving a large gap of more then four times the size of a war cruiser. A pale blue glow shone through the opening.

His eyes wide with surprise, Zeidan glanced at the screen. He had expected to see another layer of metal which they would have to destroy in order to do some serious damage, but what he actually saw was much different. Where the surface had been destroyed the view was free towards the interior of the intermediate structure. It was not as solid as it had appeared to be. Something huge seemed to be rotating inside, emitting a blue light and silver flashes of lightning.

"Send a transmission to the emperor. Inform him about our current status and ask for further instructions," Zeidan ordered, recovering quickly from his initial surprise.

It took less than a minute until the answer of the emperor was transmitted and his voice boomed over the bridges of the two cruisers.

"You may proceed inside and see if you can inflict more damage there. But do so with the utmost care. We can't afford to lose any more ships. If it gets too dangerous, retreat."

"Understood," Zeidan answered. When the connection was closed, he turned to his crew. "Seems like we will have to take a dive into the belly of the beast."

"We're staying where we are," Kunrin ordered when the Estar started to move ahead. "In our current condition we cannot risk exposing ourselves to any unknown threat. We will only step in if our help is needed."

Some murmur came to Kunrin's ear but it died down when the Desory came under intensified attack. With the Estar having left its protective position the Desory was fully exposed to the enemy's fire. Fortunately Zeidan's cruiser managed to disable one of the weapons on its way in, so Kunrin was quite sure that the damage would not become crucial right away. And he had no intention of staying at this position for long anyway.

Kunrin leant back in his seat and anxiously watched as Zeidan's ship entered through the gaping hole they had blasted into the structure.

Slowly the Estar drew closer to the opening. The ship was shaken by wave after wave of enemy fire, almost as if to prevent them from passing this final threshold, but the shields held. Then, all of a sudden, it got almost eerily silent. The attacks stopped altogether when they finally left the attack range of the enemy weapons and at the same time the atmosphere changed completely.

They were now in what could only be described as a chamber of amazing proportions. The far walls were illuminated by a bluish white glow, giving them the frightening appearance of being in constant motion. The source of this phenomenon was something that could only be described as a huge sphere of blue energy which was hovering in the center of the chamber, suspended by what looked like three arms of glaring white energy which seemed to connect to the chamber walls. Zeidan shuddered involuntarily when he realized that a ship the size of the Estar would easily fit into each of these energy streams.

When they got even closer, he realized that the surface of the sphere itself seemed to be in constant motion. Bright blue discharges were released into the room every now and then, bending according to invisible patterns or uniting with others in a shower of sparks.

Zeidan felt highly uncomfortable, for the danger radiated by this core was omnipresent. He wondered whether this might be some kind of power source for the enemy ship.

"Fire at this sphere," he finally ordered. "And try to stay clear of those eruptions," he added quickly when a particularly powerful discharge was released by the core.

A couple of shots were fired by the Estar. The plasma balls looked ridiculously small compared to the core, which was taking up almost the entire front screen by now.

The red projectiles made contact with the sphere, but instead of damaging it, they simply penetrated inside, instantly disappearing from view. Just when Zeidan realized, much to his discomfort, that their attack had been completely absorbed, dark shades started to accumulate on the sphere around the point where they had hit it. Then, suddenly, an eruption of black material was thrown out by the core and raced towards the Estar.

It reached them before even a single word of surprise could escape Zeidan's opened mouth. All lights went off. Every sound fell silent, even the low hum of the drive. The front screen flickered and turned dark.

"What's going on?" Zeidan asked into the darkness, unable to believe what had just happened, for it seemed impossible that such small pieces of material could have disabled the whole ship by mere contact.

"It appears as if all primary systems are offline," an officer's voice answered from the right. "But this should only be a momentary state. The secondary systems will take over any minute."

"I hope so," Zeidan said, picturing the Estar drifting closer and closer towards the core. When his thoughts had reached the unsettling point where the ship was struck by an exceptionally powerful discharge, a cracking sound came to his ear, startling him almost to death. The lights started to flicker and finally regained their full brightness, indicating that the secondary systems had taken over.

"Captain, the black matter is sticking to the ship. We are still loosing energy."

"Increase the distance to the core," Zeidan ordered, ignoring the statement for the moment. "We have to move out of its reach," he added and gazed at the front screen, where smaller eruptions were still throwing out matter from the threateningly glowing core.

"Try to convert the polarization of the hull to get this stuff off," Zeidan finally suggested.

Sinking deeper into his seat, he bit his lip and waited. He knew that the Estar would be able to compensate for a certain loss of energy, but he didn't know how long the systems would continue to work under a constant drain of energy. They might fail at any given time and if the drive had not accelerated the ship enough by then, they would be stuck in this demonic thunderworld.

"Captain!" Zeidan's thoughts were forced back to the present.

"It seems to work. The black matter is coming off."

Zeidan remained silent and carefully watched the front screen, which was still dominated by the silver lightning of the core. Only when he saw one of the black fragments falling back into the core, followed by a second one, a relieved smile moved over his face.

Concentrating hard, his eyes fixed at the screen, Azusa maneuvered Kirito down to the carrier of the reflector. Up to now they had tried to inflict damage on the mirror by attacking its backside, but it was protected by some kind of energy shield, rendering all their attempts useless so far. Azusa cursed inwardly. It didn't seem as if their offensive was getting them anywhere at all. Which was quite bad, because the weapon had fired two times already, destroying one more tree ship. It was only a matter of time until the next would be wiped out.

"Prepare! It's firing!" Azusa groaned when he got the warning from one of the ships of the other attack team.

Instantly all ships started to do random maneuvers. He saw the mirror moving. Seconds later a glaring blue ray shot through space. The reflector trembled under the gruesome impact of the discharge, while it deflected the rampant energy away from the black ship. From Azusa's perspective it wasn't possible to see if someone was hit, but Kirito informed him that only one tree had suffered slightly from being to close to the discharge.

"Good," Azusa said aloud and started to attack the carrier of the mirror. However, all of Kirito's shots were absorbed by its shield. "It's no use" he murmured angrily.

Wondering where Kagato had suddenly disappeared to he was about to request the status of the other attack force, when he got a call from the Estar.

His mood became even darker, while he listened to Zeidan's words.

"Alright," he stated when the captain had finished. "Withdraw and join the attack on the upper primary weapon. I will order some tree-ships to take over. It seems like this core you described is worth some more attention."

He ordered Kirito to set a course down to the central junction when another warning was sent. This time the reflector rotated in his direction. Azusa made Kirito move closer to the hull but the discharge was not aimed for the tree-ship.

After hearing the news from Zeidan, Kunrin was all the more glad that he hadn't followed him in there. With the weakened state of the Desory such an energy drain would probably have led to more severe damage. Instead they were now slowly starting to carry out the emperor's order to retreat. However, Kunrin had no intention of moving the Desory up into the zone of battle all by itself. He was planning to slip back into the cover of the Estar, which was about to exit the central junction at the very same moment.

"How often has the weapon fired so far?" he asked, because he thought this valuable information if they were to move into its range of fire.

Before someone could answer an incredible force hit the ship. The ground trembled terribly and Kunrin was thrown out off his seat. For the short second he needed to hit the ground everything seemed to explode around him, then his consciousness was momentarily dazed by a hammer blow.

He heard the screams of the crew around him like they were coming from a great distance. Strangely they mixed with the sound of fires and explosions into an almost soothing chorus, which made him realize how tired he was. Maybe a minute of rest wouldn't be too bad right now...

Performing a smooth loop, the tree-ship moved in closer to the alien ship. Close enough to draw the attention of multiple board cannons which started to blast away at it. However, the high agility of the ship enabled it to dodge most of the attacks and quickly it was close enough for an effective counterattack. A bright beam of light descended upon the surface of the enemy ship, causing the frequency of the enemy fire to decrease a little.

Satisfied with the result, Kagato made the Soto-oh fly towards the Desory, planning to use its cover to prepare for his next attack. While his ship was gracefully gliding around the powerful cruiser, Kagato did not fail to notice that the Desory, having been under heavy enemy attack for quite some time now, was in a really bad condition.

He was about to leave its cover, when he got a warning from his tree. There was little time to react. Kagato already saw the silver lightning in the corner of the screen. It moved almost faster than the eye could follow. He told the Soto-oh to move back behind the Desory, but they did not make it in time.

The energy ray merely grazed the Desory's side, but the effect was devastating. The sheer force of the attack made the Juraian war cruiser spin off course and sent it adrift towards the Soto-oh. Kagato had to quickly increase the distance to avoid a collision.

Small explosions could be seen all over the Desory's hull. At this rate it was only a matter of time until the finishing blow was dealt to the flagship. The enemy's power was truly magnificent. Kagato had to admit, that maybe he had underestimated the consequences of this power falling into the hands of a madman and his wife.

"Sir! Sir!" someone shouted directly into Kunrin's ear and his consciousness was abruptly jerked back into the hell that was the bridge.

He blinked a few times, trying to clear his head and to assess the situation at the same time. One of the crewmen had approached him where he had fallen and was now looking at him with a worried expression. No doubt he was the one who had saved him from unconsciousness.

"What happened?" he asked, but the chaotic remains of what had once been the bridge already gave him a pretty good idea.

There must have been multiple explosions, for fires were burning all around them, filling the room with biting smoke. Five officers were lying on the ground, probably dead. The survivors were doing their best to earn themselves another few minutes by frantically working the few stations which were still operable. Some even bothered trying to extinguish the fires.

"We were targeted by the primary weapon. It wasn't a direct hit, but we still suffered severe damage," the officer answered Kunrin's question.

Most obviously the man knew that this was an understatement. Laboriously Kunrin stood and gazed once more over what was left of the bridge. One didn't need to be an expert to see that the ship was lost. What he was seeing was only the result of the real wound that had been dealt to the Desory somewhere. So all their efforts had been in vain after all. A cold fury welled up inside of him.

"To the escape pods!" he shouted, his voice booming over the noise.

Everyone froze.

"Are you deaf?" Kunrin yelled at the dumbfounded men. "Tell the crew to hurry to the escape pods! We are giving up the ship!" Another hit made the Desory tremble terribly, confirming Kunrin's decision.

"But Captain...!" The officer next to him started to object, only to be cut short by Kunrin.

"Do you want to die here?" he shouted at him, making the man flinch. "Leave the ship, this is an order! The Estar will take up the pods."

The prospect of being rescued was enough to make the men move. Only the middle aged navigational officer hesitated. Looking his captain in the eye, he raised a silent question. Kunrin met his gaze and nodded. The man sighed, bowed briefly and hurried behind the others.

The Desory ejected its life pods. Realizing that he would only endanger his own ship if he stayed in the vicinity, Kagato decided to resume his original plan and headed for the main junction.

But instead of silently awaiting its destruction behind him, the Desory started to follow his course, accelerating to a remarkable speed along the way. Astonished, Kagato realized that at this speed the battered ship was even about to surpass him. Whoever was in control of the cruiser seemed to have quite some skill to get that much out of what had been reduced to hardly more than a scrap heap.

Their roles reversed now, the Desory entered through the opening they had blasted into the main junction partly covered by the Soto-oh. Once inside the cruiser kept flying towards the core at top speed. By now Kagato was getting his doubts that there was still someone in control. It seemed obvious that the ship was in for a suicide mission. Where the attacks of the Estar had been ineffective, the combined power of a tree-ship and the explosion of a whole Juraian cruiser might as well make a difference.

The ground was shaking madly. Terrible sounds reverberated over the empty bridge. Even the smoke that lay like a haze, reflecting the cold blue light, did not deaden the noise. The air had become so thick and biting, it was hard to see anything at all.  
'This is so insane!' Kunrin thought, when he rubbed his watering eyes.

In the pile of junk that had once been the bridge, he was standing over the console of the navigation officer, trying to make sense of the readings on the battered panel.

"Crap!" he shouted, when he realized that the Desory was drifting off course.

As swiftly as was possible with his impaired vision, the shaking ground, the dizziness he felt as a result of his concussion and the poisonous smoke he stumbled over to the second navigational console, which appeared to be in slightly better shape. Two times he almost fell and when he finally reached the panel he had to lean hard on it in order to keep his balance. Small explosions were still occurring all over the bridge and the fires were spreading. It almost seemed like a small miracle to him that the ship was still holding together and he was still alive. Maybe there was a goddess protecting the Juraian people after all. If so, she was now granting him a chance to do his final service to his beloved empire.

He knew that he was acting against the emperor's orders, but that didn't matter now. The ship was lost anyway and he would rather have the Desory die with a purpose than to simply leave it to the enemy for destruction. He looked at the pulsing blue globe which was flickering in and out of existence on the damaged screen. So this thing was able to absorb weapon fire, now it was time to find out how it was going to deal with the energy left in the Desory's reactor core. It was a risky venture and he was going to pay the ultimate price, but none of this mattered anymore. The only thing on his mind right now was to steer the ship into this sphere.

"Come on!" he hissed, while he waited for the panel to display a confirmation of the course corrections he just entered.

Since the Desory was drifting farther and farther off course, it was unlikely that the ship would hit the core at all. So Kagato decided to act. In a single fluent motion the Soto-oh overtook the cruiser and raced towards the blue sphere. Discharges of silver energy were sent out by it but with his agile ship Kagato expertly evaded them. He dashed to the right and to the left and was finally close enough to throw a direct attack at the core.

The beam was absorbed. Instantly an eruption of black matter exploded from the surface. Kagato started to withdraw at full speed, dodging to the side at the same time. Much to his surprise the black particles copied the Soto-oh's movement. Keeping his calm he waited a second and then, when the particles had almost reached him, he made his ship move upwards. The matter was hurled past the Soto-oh and almost scratched the hull of the Desory.

A terrible tremble went through the ship. Kunrin lost his balance and hit the ground hard. Swearing he pushed himself up again and, wiping the blood from his face, he turned towards the navigational panel once more.

"Yes!" he shouted, clenching his fist. The course corrections had been accepted. With the current condition of the ship it would probably take a few seconds until the new course was set, but eventually the Desory would make it to the core.

Kunrin turned his attention to the front screen again and froze. Eyes wide, he stared at the giant pitched black spots drawing together on the surface of the sphere. With the Soto-oh some distance above, there was no doubt it was aiming for the Desory.

The matter was thrown out with incredible force. Time almost stood still when Kunrin watched the deadly stuff approaching. He couldn't believe that his sacrifice was going to be for naught.

Then, all of a sudden, the Soto-oh moved down in front of his ship. The whole cluster of dark particles collided with the tree-ship. Struck at full force, the smaller ship was hurled backwards, almost tenderly brushed along the hull of the Desory and finally drifted off in the vague direction of the opening through which they had entered.

For a short but strange moment Kunrin felt a wave of gratitude to the pirate.

When Kagato opened his eyes, he quickly realized that he had been unconscious only for a short time. His head was still spinning, although this might as well be attributed to the fact that the Soto-oh was in a constant rotary motion. Normally the tree would compensate this even without a direct order. Catching a glimpse of the Desory dangerously close to the core, Kagato straightened up and concentrated.

Instantly his face was distorted by pain and his eyes popped open, reflecting surprise and shock. It was impossible to reach the tree. Slightly alarmed now, Kagato tried a second time, but again he failed to penetrate the wall of pain, enclosing the tree's spirit.

He moved over to his seat, quickly evaluating the new situation. The Soto-oh obviously had problems dealing with the impact of the black matter. It was still maintaining the life supporting systems, but seemed to have lost control over all the others. They were slowly moving towards the area of battle outside and there was no way he could change the course. There was nothing he could do at all. An angry sound escaped Kagato's throat. This was a most galling situation.

Especially since it could have been avoided, if he had not underestimated the enemy's power. There had been no apparent need to protect the Desory. But its mission seemed promising and he had made his decision based on the fact that a tree-ship would be much more resistant than the heavily damaged cruiser. That mistake would cost him dearly now.

Still driven by the initial momentum gained from the impact, the Soto-oh drifted back out into open space and was instantly taken under fire by the enemy's weapons. With the shields gone, Kagato felt the ship tremble whenever hit. The Estar was close by but without navigational control he had no chance to dive into its cover.

Once more he tried to connect, but even before he felt the full extent of the pain, a direct hit made him loose his concentration.

A few tree-ships flew by, approaching the black ship. Within seconds they managed to disable some of the enemy's weapon systems, providing him with a breathing pause. For a second Kagato wondered weather the Desory had reached the core by now, or been destroyed short of its goal. But since none of these two scenarios was likely to greatly improve his situation, he was about to chase the thought away, when suddenly something changed. He held his breath. A tree was touching his mind but it was not the Soto-oh. When realization struck him, his mood darkened.

Azusa.

The mere presence of the emperor still sufficed to create small sparks of anger but it was his special intention that made Kagato furious now. Not a second did he consider the proposal offered by Kirito. Never would he abandon his ship and hand himself over to Azusa.

He tried to chase Kirito's thoughts away, but the tree was persistent.

"I appreciate your offer, but I'm not going to leave my ship," he finally stated, stressing every word. "Leave me alone now. There are more important matters you have to deal with."

A strong wave of sympathy and sadness was the last thing Kagato caught from Azusa's tree. Then it was gone.

Seeing the dark blue core in front of him, Kunrin knew there was no way the Desory would miss its aim now. Another energy discharge struck the ship, almost throwing him off his feet again, but it didn't yield. One last time the familiar feeling of supreme power streamed through Kunrin's veins and right then he knew that this was the moment he had lived for, this was his destiny. It was for him to prove that the power of the Juraian empire was still unmatched in the galaxy.

He took a last deep breath and closed his eyes.

The ship trembled accompanied by a deafening noise, then it was engulfed by silver and blue lightning.

Azusa had already been angry when he had learned that the Desory had penetrated into the enemy ship against his orders and Kagato's refusal didn't serve to brighten his mood either. He was having a hard time keeping his stoic mask of indifference in place. In his current state of mind he would have loved to shout at the man on the front screen, yet he knew it would change nothing. So he forced his voice to sound as calm as possible when he replied.

"Why did Kunrin abandon the ship anyway? I ordered him to leave the battlefield. This ignorance will have consequences!"

"Majesty," Zeidan said in serious voice, "Preceptor Kunrin was not among the men we picked up. He decided to stay on his ship."

"What?" Azusa was speechless.

"I was told that he wanted to...," Zeidan's transmission was ended and his face was replaced by a view of the enemy ship.

The surface of the main junction in front of them suddenly burst open and even before Azusa was able to send out a warning to the surrounding ships large shreds of dark matter shot out in all directions.

Two tree-ships were instantly destroyed by the impact and only through his fast reaction and Kirito's swift movement Azusa managed to avoid suffering the same fate by maneuvering the ship into the shadow of the Estar. The cruiser was hit as well, but strangely the effect of the dark particles on the larger ship didn't seem to be as devastating as it was on the tree-ships. All its lights went out, but otherwise the Estar's structural integrity remained intact.

Another dark stream passed dangerously close to the two ships and moved on into the depths of space, then the deadly spectacle was over as suddenly as it had started.

This time it did not remain dark on the bridge for more than a few seconds. Only moments after the sudden eruption, all systems came back to life again. As soon as it went online, Zeidan looked at the view screen and gasped. Hadn't it been for the events of the last few hours, he wouldn't have believed his eyes, for the sight that greeted him was as grotesque as it could be.

The enemy ship was still there, but a significant change had taken place in its appearance. The main junction that had connected the two partitions of the mammoth was practically gone. In its stead there was now a large misshapen lump, squatting in the middle of the ship like a black cancer. From the looks of it, it was impossible to tell if it was made of a solid or fluid material, but since the ship had not yet broken apart, Zeidan assumed that it must possess at least a minimal amount of solidity.

There was no doubt in his mind that what he was seeing were the bloated remains of the enemy's energy core. It seemed like Kunrin had succeeded in crashing the Desory directly into what now appeared to have been the black ship's pulsing heart, causing it to overload and burst like a soap bubble.

"Captain! The dark particles are coming off all by themselves," a crewman stated, positively dumbfounded.

As if to confirm the man's statement, a miniature version of the black cancer in front of them drifted into the field of view on the screen from the lower right, followed by another and another. Within seconds the whole space around them was filled by small pieces of this mysterious material. Each of them seemed to be different from the others in shape and size, but there was one thing they all had in common. They were as dead as the giant black ship in front of them.

He didn't know where this knowledge came from, but Zeidan suddenly knew with absolute certainty that it was over now. There would be no regeneration and no reformation for the enemy this time. With the help of Tsunami's divine power, which had turned the Desory into its vessel, they had finally emerged victorious against the malevolent forces.

"Sir, we are receiving a transmission from the emperor."

Zeidan turned to face the communication officer and gave the man a curt nod, to which he answered by swiftly operating his console. A second later the voice of Azusa boomed over the bridge once more.

"The enemy seems to have lost all power, but we have to stay on guard, or we risk being taken by surprise again. We are splitting up and attacking from multiple directions." He made a short pause, before he added with emphasis, "And we only stop if there is nothing but dust left of this thing."

* * *

So this was the end. All their efforts had been in vain after all. Had it been foolish of them to take on a real goddess? Tenchi didn't think so. Since Tsunami and Washu had made it clear that at present the two of them were the only ones even remotely capable of standing against their sister, they had been left no choice but to try. As a Juraian he wouldn't have had much of a future anyway, if Tokimi was allowed to roam free.

With Ryoko, however, it was an entirely different story. She might have lived through the goddess' campaign of destruction, but she had joined him in this fight, because she trusted him. And now he had betrayed that trust...

Even as he thought this, he felt a spike of fierce objection from the pirate. He looked at her to find her frowning at him. At first he was slightly confused by her reaction, but then she sent another, much stronger wave of emotion through their bond, that almost made him blush. It wasn't just trust that had made her decision to stand with him in this battle and she didn't feel any regret even now when they were facing death.

"I'm not about to give up just yet," she said firmly.

Of course she was going to fight to the bitter end and so was he. The only way he could possibly betray her, was by giving up now.

Tenchi turned to look up at the furious goddess, who had by now summoned a dark energy ball almost equalling herself in size. If she threw this, it would probably mean the destruction of the entire chamber, so she didn't even need to hit them directly. He wondered if it might be possible to absorb an attack of that scale by using the wings.

However, his thoughts were cut short, when Tokimi suddenly staggered, like she had been struck by an invisible blow, letting the energy ball dissipate. He quickly checked with Ryoko, but the confusion she gave off clearly signalled that she hadn't done anything yet. This was exceedingly strange. Maybe the absence of her two sisters was already starting to affect the goddess' powers.

Whatever the reason, they couldn't waste this chance. He looked at Ryoko and she nodded, expressing her readiness to continue the fight. They both kicked off the ground simultaneously.

Meanwhile the goddess had regained her balance and, noticing their approach, released a barrage of dark matter blasts at them. Still somewhat amazed at how natural flying came to him, Tenchi managed to avoid those aimed in his direction, without slowing down.

They both reached Tokimi at the same instant and immediately engaged. Tenchi brought his sword around in a two-handed downward swipe, being careful not to put the full momentum of his approach into the attack this time, so he would be able to divert it, if she used her black wings again. But she simply parried the strike with one of her dark blades, using the other to fend off Ryoko. Both of them followed up with another attack and soon they were once again locked in fierce combat.

It didn't take Tenchi long to realize that whatever it was that had struck the goddess when she had been about to release her devastating attack, seemed to have seriously reduced her powers. The pace of the battle was still incredibly fast and ever increasing, while they were hardly gaining any ground, but before, Tokimi had been able to push them back single-handedly. Seeing this as their chance, he tried to press his attack even more. It wasn't a strategy that his grandfather would have used, but desperate times called for desperate measures and he still didn't know if the goddess might regain her full power at some point.

To his slight surprise, it actually seemed to be working. Ryoko wasn't much of a defensive fighter anyway and with their combined push, they were now forcing their opponent back. Quick glimpses of her face told him that Tokimi was seething again, which would have served to her disadvantage right now, if any of the rules of sword fighting could be applied to a being like her.

Even as the thought flashed through his mind, Tenchi spotted an opening in her defenses and went for it. She wasn't fast enough to parry the attack, but just before the glowing blue blade struck her body, one of her black wings shifted into place out of nowhere. His blade crashed against the wing with full force. But this time the effect was quite different. He wasn't thrown back by the sheer power of the goddess. The strike drew a scream from Tokimi, so full of rage and agony that he had to fight the urge to cover his ears.

The next thing he knew was that he was struck by an incredible wave of power, almost as if the anger of the goddess had somehow turned physical. He was hurled through the air and it took him a second to regain control. When he had finally steadied himself, he had to take a quick look around to reorient himself. Some distance to the right of him he spotted Ryoko, who had obviously been driven back by the goddess' wrath as well.

Then he found Tokimi, still hovering directly above the center platform, and she was just releasing a large blast of dark energy at him. He managed to dodge to the side just in time, so the shot soared past him without doing any harm. There was a terrible sound like the clap of thunder, which was probably the projectile releasing its deadly force against the cavern wall.

Ignoring the grinding behind him, Tenchi was about to launch himself at Tokimi again, when he caught a sudden spike of danger from Ryoko. He whirled around just to find a whole array of rocks flying in his direction at top speed. The first of them, a stone almost equalling him in size, reached him even before the surprise had a chance to register to his brain. He instinctively cleaved it in half with his sword and the two pieces scraped past him on either side, tearing the cloth of his sleeves. But the maneuver got him less than a second before the next stone had reached him and he had to slice again. Soon he found himself hacking and slashing his way through a deadly rain of rocks and at the same time using his wings to block the smaller bullets.

It seemed to go on forever and when it finally ended as suddenly as it had begun, Tenchi felt a wave of exhaustion catching up with him. His arms were on fire from countless little cuts, where sharp stones at torn through his sleeves, grazing the flesh below and he was breathing hard. A strong urge to land and recover just a little was trying to take hold of him, but he fought it down and turned around to look for Ryoko and Tokimi.

It didn't take him long to spot them, locked in a fierce duel. Ryoko was now using two swords as well, but Tenchi knew that she was still no match for the goddess on her own. She must have known this as well, but she had probably challenged Tokimi in order to earn him some time in his own struggle.

He launched himself in their direction at top speed. But he hadn't crossed half the distance, when he saw Tokimi penetrating the pirate's defense with a powerful attack. The strike was blocked by Ryoko's red wings, but the force of the impact made her lose control and sent her soaring backwards through the air. That in itself wouldn't have been so bad, if it wasn't for the swirling dark vortex which suddenly appeared in her path of flight. Assuming that this was similar to the portals the goddesses seemed to be using for transportation, Tenchi seriously doubted that it would lead to a very pleasant place.

He gathered all the strength that was left in him, trying to increase his speed some more, but even so he still felt like he was going excruciatingly slow. At this rate he wouldn't make it in time. Something stirred inside him, awakened by the devastating realization. A power which had been buried so deep that he had almost forgotten about it. But now it was there, almost aching to be used and he gladly embraced it.

The world went white around him in an instant and when it reappeared Ryoko was directly in front of him. Without thinking he grabbed her arm in full flight. The pirate's own momentum yanked him off course and brought them both dangerously close to the vortex, but then Tenchi countered the additional pull and accelerated once more, away from the portal. Or at least that was what he thought he would do, but in fact his movement stopped altogether. Only then he realized that there was a strong pull emanating from the vortex, keeping them both locked in an awkward position in mid air.

Tenchi redoubled his efforts to get away, but it was no use. He had already used up too much strength in his fight against the stones and in catching up with Ryoko. And now that the portal's gravity made him painfully aware of her additional weight, it seemed like he didn't have enough power left to break free. As if to confirm his thought, they were sucked in a little closer towards the swirling darkness. He wouldn't be able to keep this up for long.

Suddenly he felt a movement behind him and when he turned his head as much as he dared to without losing his focus, he could see Ryoko forming an energy ball, out of the corner of his eyes. Just when he was about to wonder what she was planning, she released it at the anomaly behind them. It was swallowed up immediately and at the same instant they moved forward a couple of inches, but then they were stopped dead again.

He felt Ryoko trying to convey something through their bond, but all he got was some strange kind of eagerness that only seemed to fuel his anxiety. It wasn't difficult to figure out what she wanted to do. If a normal energy blast temporarily weakened the portals gravity, a powerful one, or even better two powerful ones, might be enough to break them free. The only drawback of this plan was that in order to summon an attack of such a scale, he knew he would have to use up all that was left of his strength, meaning that if it didn't succeed, they would inevitably get sucked in. But since he didn't have any better ideas and he knew he wouldn't hold out much longer anyway, it was a risk they had to take.

He signalled his approval to Ryoko and started to focus his energy. A faintly glowing ball appeared in front of his palm and quickly started to grow. At the same time he could already feel his resistance against the gravitation fading. Judging from her sudden fierce concentration, Ryoko was meanwhile summoning her own attack. When the energy ball in his own palm had grown to a little more than double the size of his hand, he finally felt that he couldn't hold any longer.

"Now!" he screamed and released the energy blast.

Looking back, he saw Ryoko doing the same. Then his exhaustion caught up with him completely and they were literally torn out of the air and towards the portal. In front of them the blue and the red energy balls struck the dark vortex and disappeared without a trace. For a terrible moment nothing happened and their wild flight towards the black abyss continued, but then the portal suddenly burst open, throwing a wave of dark energy at them. The gravitational force was suddenly gone and they were both thrown backwards through the air.

Tenchi couldn't hold on to Ryoko and, with his power all but gone, felt himself falling backward. He turned his head to see the center platform rushing up to him. In a last effort he shifted his position, so that he was able to convert his fall into a shoulder-roll upon impact, from which he quickly came back to his feet. Ryoko went down next to him in a kneeling position, but after a second she was right back on her feet as well.

Not wasting any time, Tenchi immediately started to check for Tokimi. He found it somewhat strange that she hadn't made any move while they were fighting the gravity of the dark vortex. It didn't take him long to spot her, hovering above one of the pathways in some distance to their right and when he got a better look at the goddess, he quickly realized why she hadn't attacked them. She was breathing heavily and seemed to be having trouble to stay airborne as well. Also the incredibly powerful aura she had emanated seemed to have turned into an instable flickering. Obviously the creation of the portal hadn't been easy for her and its destruction might have weakened her even more.

"Why don't you just die?" she screamed at them and started to summon another dark matter ball.

This was the decisive moment. In her fury, she was going to use up all that was left of her power in one final attack. If they could somehow avoid this, they might be able to beat her. Their best bet would probably be to try and deflect it with their wings, but that was assuming that they had enough power left for such a feat, which Tenchi wasn't so sure of.

His doubts only increased when Tokimi's darkness ball kept growing and growing, until it had reached about half the size of the devastating attack she had been about to throw at them before. It was obvious that by themselves they wouldn't stand a chance against an assault on such a scale.

He looked at Ryoko, who answered his unspoken question with a nod of grim determination. She held out her hand and he took it without hesitation. At the same time he accessed the power of his wings. First he was shocked at how weak it had become, but then a wonderful warmth spread from his hand through his entire body. His power was merging with that of Ryoko and it felt like for the first time in his life, he was truly complete.

Then Tokimi released her attack. The terrible globe of sheer darkness came racing towards them at frightening speed. But just before it reached them, three pairs of purple wings spread out in front of Tenchi and Ryoko. And it didn't stop there. When they had fully formed, each of the wings split once more, so they were finally protected by twelve purple wings, shaping a brilliant circle in front of them. Tenchi was just about to marvel at its beauty, when the globe of darkness struck. A searing pain shot through his entire body, making him feel like he had been set aflame. It took him a lot of self-control not to cry out or flinch, which might have disrupted his concentration and allowed an opening in their defense.

The moment of contact between the opposite forces of their wings and Tokimi's darkness ball felt to him like a lifetime of agony, though in fact it probably didn't last longer than a second, before the opposite polarity of the two powerful forces finally countered the momentum of Tokimi's attack. Or at least that was what Tenchi thought, when the dark globe was hurled right back into the direction it had come from.

Unable to avoid the sudden counterattack, the goddess summoned her own wings, but the dark globe connected even before they had spread out completely. There was a massive eruption of darkness all around her, almost like an explosion, though the various shades of black gave it a more threatening appearance. Tokimi screamed and this time there was no rage in her voice, making the piercing sound much less intimidating. Then the goddess fell out of the black nebula that was the residue of the darkness eruption, and dropped to the pathway below her like a stone.

She managed to land in a half kneeling position, supporting herself with her hands on the ground, but didn't get up immediately. In fact she didn't make any move at all. Tenchi looked at Ryoko, unsure what to make of this new development, but the pirate just shrugged. Reluctantly he extracted his hand from hers and started to slowly approach the fallen goddess. Her dark aura was so weak now, he could barely feel it, but crouching there with her head lowered like an animal ready to leap at its prey any moment, she still emitted a very palpable threat.

"Tenchi," Ryoko said sharply, but made no attempt to stop him. Instead he could hear her falling into step behind him.

Very carefully they moved in closer, but Tokimi remained frozen in position. Only when they had reduced the distance to a couple of meters and Tenchi was about to say something, her head suddenly shot up. There was a hatred burning in her narrowed eyes that made him flinch.

"What now? Are you going to seal me away again?" she snarled, her gaze fixed on Tenchi, who was standing closer to her. "It won't change anything. Even if it takes me aeons, I will break the seal and then nobody will stand against me as I annihilate the cursed Hiraians!"

"We are not about to renew the seal on you." And he had to admit to himself, that he wasn't even sure if it was in their power to accomplish something like that. But he was hoping for another solution anyway. "We just want you to see the truth."

"Speak for yourself," Ryoko muttered as she stepped up to him.

"That again?" Tokimi asked angrily, ignoring the pirate's comment. "Even though you defeated me and are free to do as you want, you still spout about that nonsense?" Her eyes suddenly widened in realization and a smile appeared on her lips. "Ah, now I see. You really believe in the lies my sisters told you. I didn't think you were that stupid."

"How often do I have to tell you that Washu and Tsunami didn't tell us anything?" Positively furious now, Ryoko took a threatening step towards the fallen goddess. "They left us to figure it all out by ourselves, which we wouldn't have managed without your help. I don't know why I'm even bothering to say this again, but you were the one who made us see the truth in your illusion."

"Ridiculous," Tokimi hissed.

"See?" Ryoko turned to face Tenchi. "I knew this was coming. This stubborn hag is never going to listen. We should just go and send her right back where she came from."

But Tenchi wasn't about to give up so easily. They hadn't gone through all the trouble to solve the puzzle about the Juraian ancestry and defeat the goddess only to be stopped so close to the goal.

"Please! There has to be a way we can prove to you that we are telling the truth."

Ryoko was visibly shocked at his pleading tone and even Tokimi appeared slightly surprised.

"You seem to be really serious about this," the goddess said, her tone a strange mixture of approval and derision. "Well, there is one way, but it would be foolish of you to take it."

"Tell me, please!" Tenchi took a bold step forward. He couldn't back off now that it seemed like he was starting to get through to her.

"You would have to offer your thoughts to me, allow me to become a part of your mind. Then I will know what you know and think what you think. Once we are separate again, I will be able to tell the lies from truth even where you aren't."

"You can't be serious?" Ryoko said forcefully. "He would practically invite you into his mind to do what you want. Not even Tenchi would do something stupid like that."

"Actually, if you were speaking the truth about the Juraians, you would have nothing to fear, because I would know it right away. In that case, you have my word that I will do you no harm until I have decided if you have been deceived by my sisters or not," the goddess explained, a strange smile playing around her lips.

"Yeah right, as if that counts for anything," Ryoko countered dryly.

"I will do it." Tenchi's sudden statement immediately got him their full attention. "The truth has been buried for too long. We should finally put an end to the web of lies, deceit and delusion that has been woven for aeons."

"Are you nuts?" Ryoko burst out. "You can't risk your life just to convince this stubborn hag." She stepped in between Tenchi and Tokimi, positioning herself so that she could keep an eye on both of them at the same time. "I won't let you do this."

"She said that she will at least hear me out and I believe her," Tenchi said carefully. "Please, you need to trust me on this. I will be alright." He emphasized his words by conveying a sense of calmness through their bond.

Ryoko's brow furrowed and it was almost possible to see her mind working, while she was radiating a mixture of different emotions. After a couple of seconds, in which nobody spoke, she finally relaxed.

"I trust you, Tenchi," she said softly. Then she turned to face Tokimi. "But if you do anything to him, I swear you are going to regret it!"

"Unlike my sisters I actually do keep my word," Tokimi answered. "However, there is one more thing you should know. The complete fusion of minds is a technique me and my sisters used a long time ago to harmonize our thoughts. It's not supposed to be used on mortals. I will try to hold back, but he might still be overwhelmed by the vastness of my spirit. If that happens, he will most likely lose his mind in the process."

"Oh great!" Ryoko said. "This is stupid," she added, turning back to address Tenchi. "You don't have to do this."

"But I have," Tenchi replied, his voice somber yet firm. "It's the only way to end this once and for all."

"I know, but..." She was silent for a few seconds, but it was obvious that she was frantically searching for the right arguments to talk him out of this. Finally she gave up with a sigh. "Then at least let me do it," she tried a new approach. "I have lived longer, so I should have a higher tolerance against that spirit of hers."

"You know that won't work. I don't think she can be persuaded by memories and thoughts alone, but maybe I can make her realize my Zenarian heritage." It was a gamble with both his life and mind at stake, but as long as there was even the tiniest chance of success, he had to risk it.

"Tenchi, don't do this," Ryoko pleaded desperately. "I... I don't want to lose you."

He had never heard her like this and for a moment, his resolution faltered. Maybe he could just leave the responsibility behind for someone else to take. But then he realized that he had spent his entire life so far running from his past and his responsibilities. If he wanted to start shaping it on his own, he needed to make a stand now.

Turning his back on the waiting goddess, he stepped up to Ryoko and gently laid his hands an her shoulders. The flicker of hope in her eyes almost broke his heart.

"I will be back," he said with the best encouraging smile he could muster.

"Tenchi..." she whispered.

Suddenly unable to bear her look, he quickly released her, turned around and stepped up to Tokimi.

"I am ready. What do I have to do?" he asked, keeping every trace of hesitation from his voice.

"You only need to open your mind to me, while I change into spirit form and merge with it," she explained. "It is essential that you do not resist the merging, because if you do, it might cause harm to both of us. Also when we are one, you should try to contain your curiosity, otherwise you only increase your chances of being overwhelmed."

"I understand," Tenchi said, though he actually didn't feel so certain. "Begin."

Tokimi nodded, her expression serious now. At least this whole thing seemed to have gotten her full attention. Then she closed her eyes and at the same time her outline started to shimmer. The glow quickly grew brighter and brighter, to a point where Tenchi had to close his eyes. When he opened them again, the physical form of the goddess was gone. All that was left was a shimmering cloud, like luminescent gas. It was a beautiful, almost soothing sight and right then he found it difficult to imagine that such a being could carry so much hatred.

Suddenly the cloud rushed up to him, enveloping him completely. It was a most unusual sensation that sent a shiver down his spine. He could already feel her probing his mind and though this wasn't by any means a pleasant feeling, he didn't resist. Then, without the slightest warning, his individuality was wiped out in a single instant.

* * *

From the distance the enemy ship did not look dangerous or threatening at all. Tree-ships were dancing like tiny dots around the lower part of the black ship, slowly taking it apart with their weapons. And they met no resistance. Not a single shot had been fired from the cannons after the blue core was destroyed. It was almost like the black ship had been turned into a lifeless piece of matter drifting in space. The Desory had died a glorious death and although he did not truly care, he did not regret having shielded the ship anymore.

It had almost cost him his life in the short term but with a great deal of luck, the Soto-oh had passed the range of the ship weapons without being destroyed. In the long term only the sacrifice of the Desory had saved his ship.

Linking to Soto-oh again, Kagato was told that quite some time was needed until it would fully recover from the presence of the black particles. But that did not matter for he had no intention to return to the fleet. The battle seemed to be all but over anyway.

Suddenly an audio transmission from the emperor came in, drawing a frown from the pirate. The man just didn't know when to give up. For a second Kagato considered the option of just ignoring it, but there was a small chance that he would miss valuable information that way, so he just gritted his teeth and put it on.

"I just wanted you to know that once we are finished here I will give the order to completely destroy the prayer grounds. You may consider this a warning."

"Understood." Kagato replied, smiling maliciously. "I have no intention of staying here much longer anyway. So there's no need to worry, father." Having stressed the last words with the utmost sarcastic emphasis, Kagato closed the connection.

He changed the view on the screen to show what was lying ahead. As he looked at the yellowish shimmering planet, thoughts of Yuro crossed his mind. The boy had probably died for his cause - what a stupid and unnecessary sacrifice. Kagato shook his head in disapproval. But there was nothing he could do about it. From the beginning this had not been his war. He had gotten himself much too deeply involved already. It was time to leave this site.

For another moment Kagato was lost in thought, then he focused on the screen again and made the Soto-oh accelerate.

* * *

'This is madness. I shouldn't let him do it,' were the thoughts that crossed Ryoko's mind while Tenchi was facing the goddess. But she knew that this last chance was very important to him. She also knew that if there was someone who could actually pull this off, it would be him. And yet to her, who was used to taking matters into her own hands, it felt just plain wrong to stand idly by while he was risking his life and his sanity.

Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light, after which Tokimi's body was replaced by a luminous cloud. It was starting. Now it would be too late to interfere. All that was left for her to do now was believe in Tenchi and hope for the best. She couldn't remember that she had ever felt so miserable in her entire life.

The cloud quickly closed in on Tenchi and enveloped him, effectively hiding him from sight. Now she couldn't even see if he was alright anymore, which only served to increase her anxiety.

But at least she could still feel him through their bond. At first there was a slight discomfort paired with a trace of curiosity. Then, all of a sudden, she was assaulted by a wave of negative emotions so powerful and manifold, it made her stagger. The assault didn't even last a second before it was abruptly cut off, but that was still enough to make Ryoko's head spin. Luckily the dizziness quickly subsided, allowing her to immediately regain her balance. It left behind a pounding headache though.

This wasn't good. She couldn't imagine what would happen if one was exposed to these emotions for longer than a few seconds. A quick glance in his direction told her that Tenchi was still trapped in the shimmering cloud that was Tokimi's spirit. Only that it seemed to be spinning wildly now. She didn't know if it was even possible to get him out of there by force, or what it might do to him, so she tried to connect to him through their bond once more.

No reaction. There was absolutely nothing from his end, she couldn't even tell if he was still there. Right then she realized that, whatever the consequences, she had to act immediately, or it might be too late for him. Hopefully it wasn't too late already.

She was just about to move over and get him out of there, when the spirit cloud suddenly lifted, leaving Tenchi standing with his back to her. He remained in this position for another second, almost like he was watching Tokimi's spirit while it slowly retreated from him, but then he started to fall backwards stiff as a statue.

Ryoko instantly teleported, catching him just before he hit the ground. When she looked at him her blood seemed to freeze in her veins. He was deadly pale, his eyes wide open, but staring into the distance without focus. An expression of pain as well as something that almost seemed like anger was engraved on his features. But the worst of all was that all the while his mouth kept moving, without a sound coming out.

"Tenchi!" A powerful wave of desperation threatened to overwhelm her. "Tenchi, wake up!"

Tenchi blinked and his eyes seemed to become a little more focused. Maybe it wasn't too late yet. Supporting him with one arm, Ryoko gently lowered him to the ground and used her free hand to take hold of one of his own. She was shocked at how cold it felt.

"Please, don't leave me, Tenchi!" she pleaded, squeezing his hand.

"I..." A sound suddenly emerged from his mouth, but it was toneless and completely devoid of emotion.

"You promised to be back." A single tear struck Tenchi's pale cheek.

"I feel..."

"You promised!"

"... so much..." There was emotion in his voice now, though not of the kind that was fitting the situation. It sounded very much like anger.

"Tenchi?" Hope and fear were waging a bitter war inside of Ryoko.

"So much..." The anger in his voice was now evident. His body tensed and at the same time his eyes seemed to regain even more focus. "... hatred!"

He had shouted the word with such ferocity, that Ryoko almost dropped him completely in her surprise. But before she even had a chance to think about the meaning of this sudden outburst, Tenchi closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, he looked directly at her.

"Ryoko?" he asked. There was no trace of the anger from before in the question, only confusion. "What just happened?"

"Oh Tenchi!" Giving in to the wave of relief she felt, Ryoko hugged him as tightly as their awkward position allowed. "I thought I had lost you."

"Yeah well," he replied, obviously slightly embarrassed as he carefully returned her hug. "I don't understand it either. Her negative emotions were so powerful, I could feel my identity being swept away by them. I never thought that such terrible anger and hatred could even exist."

"And that's exactly the reason why you weren't overwhelmed by them," came a voice from their left. Ryoko instantly released Tenchi and jumped to her feet.

"You!" she said forcefully, glaring at the once again human form of Tokimi, who was standing in front of her.

"Yes, if there had been even a scrap of the hatred you feel now inside of him, it would have resonated with my own and he would have lost himself. But there wasn't. The emotion was completely alien to him..." She made a short pause before she added, "... as it has once been to me."

"So what now? You still want to destroy Jurai?" Ryoko asked gruffly.

"No. I know now, that you are speaking the truth." She pointed at Tenchi, who had meanwhile gotten to his feet as well, and sighed. "He really has Hiraian and Zenarian blood, but I was too consumed by hatred to realize. Even now it still burns like a flame deep within me, the thirst for revenge for my eternal imprisonment and the murder of my children."

"But the Zenarians weren't eradicated back then. They lived on together with the Hiraian survivors as a new people," Tenchi reasoned.

"That I understand now and therefore I can't take out my rage on the Juraians. But neither can I forgive my sisters for what they have done. The ones that survived the battle of Hirai were but a few of my children. The others were killed by Tsunami's people, while Washu sat by and did nothing." Her anger seemed to be stirring again.

"Uh, maybe I got this wrong, but weren't you the one who tried to destroy their homeworld?" Ryoko asked what was on her mind.

"Don't you dare advise me about things that happened long before your time, daughter of Washu!" Tokimi erupted suddenly. "My children were a space faring people, who built an efficient empire, held together by virtue and discipline. That's why they were begrudged and feared by the Hiraians, who weren't able to control their own empire as well and even though she was their goddess, my sister wasn't able to keep them in line. Something needed to be done." She took a calming breath. "Back then the seed of hatred was planted that finally destroyed both civilizations." And with a sardonic smile she added, "It is so like Tsunami to disappear right after she awakened instead of helping the descendents of her people to restore the prosperous civilization they once had."

"So, are you going to try and improve the Juraian society?" Tenchi asked carefully, but he wasn't able to keep the unease out of his voice completely.

Something about the question, or the way he had asked it must have been funny, because Tokimi started to laugh. This time there was no madness in the sound however, she actually seemed to be genuinely amused.

"You don't need to worry," she said, still chuckling. "They are not my children anymore and me helping them would also be me helping the Hiraians, which I am not about to do." She suddenly turned completely serious again. "No, as much as it pains me, I have to agree to my sisters in this. I'm still thirsting for revenge for what was done to me and my children, but I realize now that these are emotions from a time long past. There is no place for them in this new world and thus there is no place for me."

She closed her eyes and her body started to emit a pale glow, much like when she had changed into spirit form.

"No, wait!" Tenchi was about to run up to her, but Ryoko quickly grabbed his arm, holding him back. For a second he tried to break free, then he seemed to come to his senses and relaxed. "There is still so much I don't understand."

At first Ryoko didn't know what he was talking about. She thought that everything had been said and was actually glad that Tokimi seemed to be about to disappear. Only when the goddess answered, she realized what he was referring to.

"You best forget about those fragments of the past you have glimpsed. They will do you no good." Her outline was already starting to blur in the brightness. "Also, if you should survive, remember that your powers will not last forever. Eventually every trace of our existence shall be gone from this plain of existence."

The light emanating from her became even brighter, to the point where Ryoko had to shield her eyes. When she opened them again after the light had died down, as expected, there was nothing left of the goddess and her powerful aura.

It was hard to believe. Was it really over? Did they do it? Then Tokimi's last words finally registered to her.

"What did she mean, if we should survive?" she asked, a sense of unease creeping up on her.

Tenchi was about to answer, when a sudden change in the room's atmosphere made him pause. Ryoko couldn't pinpoint exactly what was happening right away, but since the effect was increasing, she quickly realized. The sparkling, rainbow colored reflections, cast at the walls by the water surface were growing dimmer. It was getting dark.

"Maybe we should get out of here," Tenchi said with an air of foreboding.

In answer to his statement, the ground started to shake beneath them, almost throwing them off their feet. They had to levitate into the air in order to counter the effect of the tremor, which was getting more violent by the second. And as if that wasn't bad enough already, a terrible crunching started to emanate from the ceiling.

Without wasting any more time, Ryoko pointed at the tunnel of which she hoped that it was the one they had come from. Tenchi nodded and they kicked off in that direction at top speed.

It was already getting hard to see in the darkness, making Ryoko worry about how they would navigate on their way to the surface. She cursed herself for not realizing that an energy source was needed for this whole place to maintain its perfect shape throughout the ages. Somehow the cave must have been drawing energy from the presence of the two goddesses. Now that they were gone, it seemed like time was finally catching up on it.

Large rocks started to fall around them when they were about to reach the tunnel entrance, hitting the water surface with loud splashes that could be heard even over the earsplitting rumbling all around them.

They finally entered the tunnel and were swallowed by absolute darkness. At first Ryoko had to slow down, because she couldn't see a thing, but then a pale blue glow lit up the tunnel walls around them. Obviously Tenchi had activated his energy blade. She did the same and with their combined light they could actually see far enough to proceed at a decent speed.

And yet Ryoko found herself wondering if they would be fast enough. The tremors were getting even more violent, almost as if the cave around them was writhing in agony and every now and then they could hear a crashing noise behind them, which probably meant, that part of the tunnel had collapsed. It was a small miracle that they had even gotten that far.

By her estimation, they must have crossed over half of the distance to the surface already. However, just when she thought that they might make it at this speed, the tunnel in front of them came to an abrupt end. The ceiling had caved in, effectively sealing of the path. Ryoko cursed and had to brake hard as to not slam into the stony blockade at full speed.

"What now?" she shouted. They couldn't just blast their way through, because that would probably make the cave come right down on their heads.

"We have to..." The rest of Tenchi's answer was drowned out by the terrible sound of the ceiling collapsing above them.

Instinctively Ryoko released her energy sword and threw herself to the ground, but was conscious enough to summon her wings while she did so. The thunderous rumbling went on and on, however the bone-crushing pain of being smashed by tons of rock didn't come. After a while the sound started to soften until it finally died down completely. The tremors calmed down a little as well.

The sudden quiet stood in stark contrast to the chaos that had reigned before and induced Ryoko to try and push herself up. To her slight surprise, it actually worked. A faint violet flicker illuminated the solid stone directly in front of her, but above there seemed to be at least enough space to sit up. She didn't need to look in order to know that this space was granted by her wings. The pressure of an entire world of stone was eating away at what little was left of her strength.

Normally she wouldn't have been able to keep this up for more than a second, but there was yet another power, which reinforced and complemented hers, helping her to keep the rocks at bay. It was Tenchi's power. He must have summoned his wings as well and combined them with hers to stop the cave-in above them.

Carefully Ryoko turned around, taking note of how much even this simple exercise took out of her. But the sight of Tenchi crouching next to her, apparently unhurt, replenished some of her strength. However, his cramped posture told her that the strain was getting to him at least as much as it was getting to her. They wouldn't be able to keep this up for long.

Tenchi had probably realized that as well, because he wore an expression of bitter regret and even though their bond seemed to have been severed by the feedback of his mental fusion with Tokimi, Ryoko knew what was coming.

"I'm sorry I dragged you into this. I should have insisted on facing Tokimi alone..." He lowered his head in shame. "... but I wasn't strong enough."

At first Ryoko was deeply hurt by his words. Didn't he realize that she had done this for him, because she wanted to be with him... because she loved him? But then she remembered the feelings they had exchanged through their bond. He did realize and that was exactly why he had said this. He probably thought that he wasn't deserving those feelings. It was also his way to tell her that he cared for her.

"Tenchi, by now you should know that as a pirate, I do not regret the things I do," she said firmly. "I made the decision to stand with you, knowing that it might cost me my life. I made it, because I wanted to see this through with you." She gave him a heartfelt smile. "And I'm glad that we did."

"But..."

"No buts. That's all there is to it. And besides, there was nothing you could have done to keep me from staying with you anyway. I'm Ryoko the space pirate and I always get what I want." Her smile turned into a grin before it vanished and she went serious again. "Well, almost always...," she added quietly. "I wanted to stay with you a little longer."

"That would have been nice," he answered much to her surprise.

"Tenchi..." Her strength was fading. She inched closer to him.

"Ryoko I... I..." He didn't continue, but neither did he withdraw when her head moved closer to his.

After an endless moment, their lips met and at the same time the power of their wings failed. The ceiling collapsed above them and the world went white.

* * *

Chapter notes:

The end? Well, not quite.

Nevertheless this is the final chapter of P&C and we would be overjoyed if you told us what you think about it. If you've actually read through the entire story up to this point, or even just this ridiculously long final chapter, you already have my many thanks.

Explaining who wrote what in this chapter might seem like a laborious task, but it's actually rather easy. My sister wrote all the scenes in space and I wrote all those with Ryoko, Tenchi and Tokimi.

See you soon.


	19. Epilog

The characters in this story and the events of all the Tenchi Muyo shows are property of their original creators and all those affiliated with them. I have neither created them, nor do I own them. Any new characters as well as the events within this story are created by me and my sister, so they are our property. This story is written for fun and as an homage to the world of Tenchi.

* * *

Epilog

When he went past the mighty stone columns out into the open, the sun was already setting. He took a deep breath and enjoyed the fresh air. A warm wind sprung up, rustling in the leaves of the trees nearby. An overwhelming feeling of freedom pared with great relief conjured a smile on his face.

Suddenly there was a movement to his left which made him pause. A tall figure strode out of the shadow of a column, moving towards him.

"So, prince Yuro of Jurai, how does it feel to be embraced by long lost family?" There was no hint of mockery in Kagato's voice, yet Tenchi felt his face flushing slightly.

"They actually believed my story," he answered as if he had to persuade himself.

"You took your time to convince them," Kagato replied and gestured for Tenchi to take a walk with him along the path separating the royal palace and wood. The unpleasant memories of the last hours in the audience chamber took shape in Tenchi's mind again and reluctantly he followed the request.

It had been so easy in the beginning, when Kagato was coolly evidencing the statement he had transmitted to Azusa when the great battle was over. Mentioning the pirate trio's raid on the royal palace almost casually, he had explained about what Ryoko had found in the woods all those years ago. Then he had continued to tell them that she had brought the baby to Arret, where it was raised into a young man by a caring widow. At that point Queen Achika had expressed her firm belief in Tenchi and Yuro being the same person. But then Azusa had asked Kagato to leave and the interrogation had started.

The whole time, while he had been answering question by question, telling them about the escape from the Juraian moon base, their encounter with Shade, Ryoko's rescue from the Grand Space Prison and finally the last battle against Tokimi, Azusa had only worn a mask of concentration. It had been a mystery to Tenchi what the Emperor was thinking. In fact he still didn't know for certain, even after the last sentence was said.

"They've invited us for dinner."

Kagato, who seemed to have watched the trees in the wood up to now, looked at him, an unreadable expression on his face. When he spoke up, his voice was as cold as ice.

"The only reason I came back here was to give evidence of your origin," he replied. "Since it seems like I succeeded in this matter, my presence here is no longer necessary."

For another minute only the sound of sand crunching beneath their boots was heard, then Tenchi voiced the question which had already come to his mind on their journey to Jurai. He hadn't been able to ask it back then, because he had fallen asleep from exhaustion only minutes after Azusa had ended the communication.

"There's still one thing I don't understand," he started and immediately felt the piercing gaze of the space pirate upon him. "On the planet's surface I was too tired to think straight so I didn't object, but I might as well have escaped with the Souja." The mere thought of this missed opportunity made him feel more than a little uneasy. "So why did you insist on taking me with you and telling Azusa that I'm the crown prince of Jurai?"

Kagato returned Tenchi's interrogative glance and slowed down a little. "For the same reason I rescued you."

Tenchi looked bewildered. "Because you did not want to see a former partner and nice lady die?"

The space pirate laughed, "That was what I answered Ryoko. Regarding the circumstances there was neither reason nor time to explain myself."

It was surprisingly difficult for Tenchi to sort out his fragmented memories of the time after the goddess battle. He remembered being closer to Ryoko than he had ever been before. The feeling had been so pleasant it even took away his fear of death when they were cramped beneath their wings in the collapsing cave. When everything had turned white he knew that this was the end. But he had been wrong.

Suddenly the black night sky had been above them and they were lying right beside the Soto-oh. Kagato had been there too and said something that made Ryoko flush. He had told them that there was little time left before the Juraian fleet would arrive and completely destroy the area. Tenchi remembered Ryoko helping him getting to his feet, but he had felt so weak, he had to heavily lean on her. She had briefly thanked Kagato and asked why he had rescued them. But instead of a reasonable explanation, Kagato had just made the statement, which had remained in Tenchi's mind, and pressed to hurry. From this moment on the memory became blurred and he didn't know what was dream or reality.

"I gave you the coordinates of the prayer grounds, because I was sure that it was not in your power to prevent Yosho from carrying out his plan." Kagato's voice brought Tenchi back to the present and his words left an uneasy feeling, when he pictured who actual had carried out Yosho's plan.

"In a way my assumption proved to be right, but then your actions surprised me. The last thing I was expecting from an untrained Juraian Royal was that he would stand his ground against a goddess."

"But I managed only because..." Tenchi started but was immediately interrupted by Kagato.

"I know Ryoko's capabilities and you are right, you surely would not have been able to defeat Tokimi without her. But Ryoko would not have been able to do so without your help either. I knew this from the moment I sensed your Juraian power."

Tenchi kept starring at the deep red sun behind the whispering trees, but he didn't see it anymore. Realization had struck him of how it had been possible for Kagato to locate them inside the cave in the first place.

"Your power is the more impressive for it doesn't seem to reason from hate or thirst for revenge," Kagato held his steps and when he spoke on, his gaze met Tenchi's.

"You possess great potential, Yuro. Potential to become a much better ruler one day than Azusa is now. You might still have a long way to go until that day, but at least now that your origin has been acknowledged, you will be able to start walking it." For a moment Kagato's gaze seemed to move past him. When the pirate looked at him again, Tenchi believed to see an insidious smile flit over his face.

"If you're questioning your decision to give in to my pressing, to come back to Jurai with me, you may want to think about the other option. Had you escaped with the Souja, it would have only served to prove once more that you have pared up with the dreaded Ryoko. Azusa is listening to me, but he certainly gives nothing to what she says. So you may ask yourself this: Would you have been happy living your life together with her as an outlaw?"

Tenchi lowered his head and took a deep breath. He realized that this was the one question that had haunted him since he had discovered the first traces of his affection for the pirate. And he could see now, that it was his mulling over this fallacious question that had kept the true source of his feelings hidden from himself. It was his stubborn perception of morality that had blocked his sight. Freedom could not sustain itself without bending to certain rules, but there was no point in rules without the promise of freedom. Where he had tried to live by the rules for all his life, Ryoko's life had been one of wild freedom.

"By the way, there is someone waiting for you," Kagato suddenly disturbed his reflection in a slightly amused tone.

Following the direction in which the pirate was looking, Tenchi turned around towards the building and noticed for the first time that they had reached yet another entrance, which was much smaller than the one he had exited from. The sinking sun made the mighty stone columns shine in the darkest color of red. But Tenchi's full attention was drawn to the pathway in between, where Ryoko was standing.

Stunned by her appearance he felt his heart beating faster. He searched for the bond, for any emotional reaction from her, but there was nothing. For a moment he feared that only the rush of events had made them come so close in the cave, but then he saw Ryoko smiling and all his doubts were washed away.

"Tenchi!" Her smile turned into a happy grin and, her arms spread wide, she started floating over to him. Tenchi felt himself smiling too and without a second thought he ran towards her.

Only when he crossed the shadows of the first columns, he suddenly became aware of the situation. Ryoko had already reached him by then and was about to enclose him in her embrace. But instead of returning the gesture, he caught her by the arms and forcefully pushed her to the side behind the next column. When her back was leaning against the stones, he stopped pushing but did not let go of her arms.

"What are you doing here?" he whispered, glancing around nervously.

"But Tenchi, I came to take you with me. I was bored of all the waiting."

There was no sound from the entrance and on the path Kagato was leaning lazily against a column, starring towards the wood. There was nobody there who might have noticed Ryoko's presence yet. '... bored of all the waiting.' The words sunk into his mind and made him turn his attention on her again.

Starring directly into Ryoko's golden eyes, he automatically loosened the grip on her arms. Obviously amused about his behavior, she gave him a reassuring smile.

"There's nobody here. We're alone," she whispered.

Picturing the consequences of her being found here, Tenchi felt the strong urge to object.

"But that's dangerous. If..."

Ryoko suddenly freed her arms completely and put a finger on his lips. "Shht!" she made. "I know what I'm doing. Trust me."

He took hold of her hand, moving it away from his lips and opened his mouth to disagree, to tell her that everything would be lost if she was caught here. But when he looked into her eyes, he realized that she already knew that and had taken the risk of coming to see him anyway.

"I..." he started, taking note of the slight change in Ryoko's expression. "I do trust you."

She gently squeezed his hand and moved in a little closer. "Then let's stop talking."

As she approached him, time seemed to freeze. Tenchi felt his face going hot. His pulse raced but for nothing in the world would he have changed this magical moment. He closed his eyes and gave himself to the intense feeling of happiness. Their lips met. A warm shiver ran through his body and the happiness turned into overwhelming affection. His arms enclosed her body in a passionate embrace, and when she returned the gesture, everything around him was forgotten.

He did no longer see the long shadows of the columns projected by the setting sun, nor hear the whispering of the trees out in the wood. Nor did he realize Kagato briefly glancing in their direction, nor hear the sound of the approaching steps. Holding Ryoko in his arms, knowing that she felt the same as he, was what he had longed for. Their tongues met once more and all of a sudden he knew with unmistakable certainty that he had solved the mystery about his bond to the space pirate.

"Hey, knights!"

Tenchi jerked at the sound of Kagato's voice and hastily withdrew from Ryoko. Instinctively he dragged her deeper in the shadow of the column. The sound of the steps of two men coming to a halt on the pathway made his heart beating faster in his chest. Holding his breath just like Ryoko, he eavesdropped.

"What do you want? We are in a hurry!" a deep voice answered.

"I just wondered..." Kagato's voice trailed off, as if he was searching for the right words to phrase a most delicate question.

"We have business to attend to, so don't hold us up," the second men interrupted him harshly.

"Oh, I wouldn't think of it," Kagato replied neatly. "I just wondered if you can tell me what the weather will be tomorrow."

Ryoko chuckled and in spite of the gravity of the situation, Tenchi could not keep a straight face either. The question seemed to have taken the knights completely by surprise, for there was no immediate answer.

"We should look for a safer place," Ryoko whispered barely audible and extended her hand. Tenchi nodded and gently took hold of it. She gave him a warm smile, which he returned and then they were gone.

--

"The weather?" the second knight asked warily. But the first one already started to laugh.  
"Of course it will be sunny and warm. Tomorrow is vacation day. You can't have forgotten about that."

With these words they went on towards the small entrance. Kagato watched them until they had entered the palace. When the wooden door had closed behind them, he turned towards the setting sun.

Vacation day. Of course he had not forgotten about it. It had been the day when everything had started.

He glanced at the spot where Yuro and Ryoko had hidden just a minute ago. Live was a strange game. And with the hint of a smile on his face the space pirate teleported away.

* * *

Authors dialog:

Kryo: Incredible! It's finished. We actually did it. I have to admit that there were times when I had my doubts if we would manage to finish this endless story. Do you still remember how we started to write P&C almost 5 years ago?

Tamrin: Yes, back then I received two or three pages of text from you, outlining the position of the characters to each other, the way you would like it, and a general idea of the content of a few scenes.

Kryo: Exactly. I had thought about trying my hand at a larger piece of fanfiction for some time back then. Then, some day, I had this idea about some characters of the Tenchi cast sneaking into a high security complex for some reason. As strange as it sounds, that was the cornerstone. I quickly realized that it would be easier to do this in an AU story and that was when I first asked myself how Tenchi Muyo! would work without Earth. From there I decided which characters I would like to see in the story and which roles they might play (especially Tenchi) if there actually was no Earth. Once this was done I handed the whole tangled mass to you and asked you if you thought it possible to do something with it.

Tamrin: And I really came up with some ideas. I've always enjoyed thinking out stories so I made use of the time during a boring lecture of historical geology and wrote down a small script for a possible storyline, involving your ideas.

Kryo: Actually the script was quite complicated with all those difficult relations. It even started ten years in the past to set up a major twist that would happen much later in the story. But I liked it and so I started to write the prolog right away. I remember clearly the beautiful sunset that took place while I wrote this very first scene all those years ago. Afterwards I proceeded to write the first scene of the first chapter, starting the actual timeline.

Tamrin: The first scene I wrote was the second in the first chapter, which forced the reader to have a look at Tenchi's cup of coffee in the beginning. This was remarkable for I do not drink coffee. I chose this introduction because I did not want to make Tenchi act as it would please me but to let him live his own way of life. This was not an easy task, because unlike you I never was a great Tenchi Muyo! fan. So I often had to look at snapshots from the series to get in the mood for writing scenes when we started. Nevertheless we managed to write a lot and quite fast back then. There was plenty of time and especially you needed it, because I wrote in German and you translated my scenes with a dictionary.

Kryo: Of course you kept improving your English, so I didn't have to translate anymore and we also started to use an online-dictionary for a quicker look-up, but even so there was less and less time to write, because our studies kept getting more and more time-consuming. The initial enthusiasm started to fade as well. While these factors had quite a negative effect on the progress, they never managed to completely freeze it. Partially that might be because I developed a slightly different attitude to writing itself. I realized that I had never really enjoyed the process and that I probably never would. But that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Someone once said: "An author who doesn't torture himself tortures his readers." And I think there is some wisdom in that.

Tamrin: There might be some truth in that, but in my opinion writing has to give at least a little pleasure. Personally I enjoyed it almost every time. After confronting a character with a certain situation it was always so amazing to see how he would act or what he would say. It was almost as if the characters were acting on their own.

Kryo: Yes, and at some point they were getting too independent. The original ending we had in mind didn't live up to the expectations of the characters as well as the readers anymore, so we had to do a major revision of our original script and develop an entirely new ending.

Tamrin: Yea, after writing out chapter 10 we sat together and discussed over more than two hours. Plans were made and possible developments of certain characters framed. And in the end we agreed on a script outlining the further course of the story.

Kryo: And as soon as the new script was done, the progress slowed to a snail's pace. These were hard times for P&C and without the mutual motivation it might as well have been the end of the story. After all we just had each other and our responsibility to the readers to keep us going.

Tamrin: True. Talking about the story and planning the scenes was a main part of our teamwork. Most ideas took shape during these discussions lasting for hours. Almost every time we met, the story was one topic to be talked about. And afterwards everything we had thought of was written in a script. However you liked working with detailed scripts much more than me.

Kryo: Yes - I was more comfortable writing with a definite outline. Especially for the longer battle scenes I found them essential.

Tamrin: Oh- don't remind me of the space battle scenes of the last chapters! As a girl I'm not so fond of battle scenes at all. And unlike scenes where characters interact directly I do not like writing scenes in sealed vessels where the only possibility to communicate is with some communication devise. Yea, and bearing additionally in mind that certainly most readers do not like side characters like Kunrin, those space battle scenes had been really hard stuff to write.

Kryo: I know, it was quite mean of me to make you write those, because I really wanted to write the ground scenes. And then I even sneaked out of writing the epilog, because I feared that I might not be able to pull it off.

Tamrin: But in fact I felt honored to be given the task to write the last scene. I guess I deserved it too, because first you have written the Prolog and second I had come up with the idea more than one year ago. And after all these battle scenes writing the Epilog was something I truly enjoyed. Now that it is posted, there is only one thing to say.

Kryo: My greatest thanks to all those of you, who stayed with us to the very end. You are all great readers - the best a writer could wish for. Special thanks to those people who even took the time to drop us a line or more in comments of encouragement and constructive criticism. The story wouldn't have taken its final shape without your help. And last but not least another round of special thanks to those individuals who took upon themselves the extensive task of helping me out by proofreading some of the endless chapters of Purity and Corruption. Thank you!

Tamrin: I, too, thank you sincerely for all the hours you invested in reading our story. The main story line of Purity and Corruption has come to a conclusion now, but there's still something to write. Young Kagato wants to see his side story finished and I don't intend to keep him waiting for another year.

Kryo: I remember that originally I wanted to write one as well, but I don't know if I will be able to do this anytime soon. Maybe you will have to write this one as well.

Tamrin: :-)


End file.
